Pro-establishment bloc sets up team to guide messaging and coordinate work in Hong Kong’s expanded legislature

Previously, just one convenor and a deputy were tasked with managing the camp’s legislative efforts

But by adding 10 new positions underneath them, the bloc hopes to better steer the 90 lawmakers, many of whom have reported no political affiliation

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Lawmakers pose for pictures after taking their oaths at the Legislative Council building on Monday. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 10:37pm, 6 Jan 2022Updated: 10:34am, 7 Jan 2022

A closer look at the line up of lawmakers who met a top Beijing official overseeing Hong Kong affairs this week reveals a new organisational structure within the pro-establishment bloc that insiders and analysts say is aimed at bolstering efficiency and streamlining communication.

Only 20 of the 90 newly minted lawmakers were invited to the unprecedented meeting with Xia Baolong, director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, in Shenzhen in Guangdong province on Wednesday.

Never before has a top Beijing official met legislators so soon after their swearing in. Xia laid out what the central government expected of them, which included being “firm patriots” who protected national security and defenders of the executive-led model of government.

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Some legislators cited the Covid-19 pandemic as a reason for the small-circle meeting. But a review of those in attendance shows an expanded convenor mechanism the pro-establishment camp recently created to better coordinate themselves in the legislature, which has been enlarged from the previous 70 seats under Beijing’s “patriots-only” overhaul of the city’s electoral system.

Analysts and insiders on Thursday said the new system was aimed at avoiding any major hiccups in the new Legislative Council.

The Beijing-friendly bloc only had a convenor and a deputy convenor in the previous Legco term who were responsible for coordinating the camp, which occupied 43 of the 70 seats.

But multiple sources confirmed the mechanism had now been expanded to a three-tier system consisting of up to 12 lawmakers. Apart from Martin Liao Cheung-kong who will continue to be the convenor, with veteran lawmaker Starry Lee Wai-king as his deputy, 10 other lawmakers were given new tasks under the pair.

Pro-establishment bloc sets up team to guide messaging and coordinate work in Hong Kong’s expanded legislature

Previously, just one convenor and a deputy were tasked with managing the camp’s legislative efforts But by adding 10 new positions underneath them, the bloc hopes to better steer the 90 lawmakers, many of whom have reported no political affiliation

Previously, just one convenor and a deputy were tasked with managing the camp’s legislative efforts

But by adding 10 new positions underneath them, the bloc hopes to better steer the 90 lawmakers, many of whom have reported no political affiliation