China sets up Hong Kong crisis center in mainland, may replace official liaison

China has finally set up a crisis command centre on the mainland side of the border and is considering replacing its official liaison. As the violent protest escalated in Hong Kong, the top Chinese leaders in recent months have been managing their response from a villa on the outskirts of Shenzhen. The communications between Beijing and Hong Kong are done through a Chinese government body. The Liaison Office is situated in Hong Kong. Beijing dissatisfied by the  Liaison Office's handling of the crisis is considering to replace the body's director Wang Zhimin and two other people familiar with the situation.

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Liaison office criticised

Wang is the most senior mainland political official stationed in Hong Kong. The office has been criticized in Hong Kong and China for misjudging the situation in the city. According to a Chinese official, the Liaison Office has been mingling with the rich people and elites of the mainland and isolated itself from other people. The Liaison Office is expected to face a lot of pressure as the pro-democracy candidates swept the seats and recorded a victory against pro-Beijing parties in local district elections on Sunday.

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Elections amid high political instability

This election was held in the country after massive protests broke out in the country against the government after it proposed a controversial extradition bill. The bill now stands withdrawn. Total turnout exceeded 2.94 million voters, a rate of 71 per cent, surpassing a record from the previous legislative council election in 2016 of about 1.47 million. A record 4.1 million people, including 4,00,000 new voters, signed up to cast ballots in the poll. The protests started in June over a now-abandoned extradition bill. However, it later escalated to include demands for democratic elections for the city’s leader and legislature, and an independent probe into alleged police brutality in suppressing the protests. A statement was released by the government in which the executive leader, Carrie Lam said the government will certainly listen humbly to citizens' opinions and revert back on them seriously. 

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