Return to right path: China’s new man in Hong Kong

Beijing’s new top envoy to Hong Kong said he hoped the protest ravaged city would ‘return to the right path’.

Luo Huining arrives at China's liaison office in Hong Kong on Monday. Picture: AP

Beijing’s new top envoy to Hong Kong said he hoped the protest-ravaged city would “return to the right path” as he took up his post on Monday.

Luo Huining replaced Wang Zhimin as head of Beijing’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong — the most significant personnel change since pro-democracy protests erupted in the city seven months ago, the biggest challenge to Chinese rule since the 1997 handover from Britain.

The 65-year-old Mr Luo delivered a short statement to reporters in Mandarin — not the city’s lingua franca Cantonese.

Mr Luo gave little clue as to whether Beijing’s approach towards the city would change as it convulsed with popular anger.

“In the past six months, Hong Kong’s situation has made everybody’s heart wrench. Everyone earnestly hopes that Hong Kong can return to the right path,” he said, declining to take questions.

Mr Luo struck a conciliatory tone in saying Hong Kong had made an “important contribution to (China’s) opening up and modernisation”.

And in a brief reference to the political violence he quoted President Xi Jinping’s New Year speech saying “without a harmonious and stable environment, how can there be a home where people can live and work happily”.

AFP