Beijing has appointed Zhang Yong, a senior staff member from a state-owned shipping and logistics service group, to serve as a deputy director in the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong, the nation’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has announced.
Zhang, executive vice-president of mainland Chinese shipping conglomerate Cosco Shipping Group and also its media spokesman, will replace Qi Bin, who was appointed in November last year, according to the ministry’s announcement on Wednesday.
The liaison office’s website was updated on the same day, with Zhang listed as the fourth deputy director.
Advertisement
The state-owned company has been under the spotlight since late July, when media identified it as a “major strategic investor” to be invited by Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison Holdings to join a consortium seeking to acquire the latter’s global port stakes. This came after a deadline for exclusive talks on the US$23 billion deal expired on July 25.
The move was seen as CK Hutchison’s attempt to appease Beijing, which had issued rounds of criticism slamming the conglomerate’s plan to sell an 80 per cent stake in its port assets to a Western consortium led by BlackRock as a “betrayal” of national interests.
Advertisement
Beijing has reportedly hardened its stance, demanding that Cosco obtain a majority stake and veto rights in CK Hutchison’s overall global portfolio as a condition for regulatory clearance.