Hong Kong's New Minder

Luo Huining met the media this morning in the liaison office in Hong Kong

The liaison office in Hong Kong has a new man in charge. Wang Zhimin has been replaced with Luo Huining, and the 65-year-old spoke to the media this morning.

Well the media had to wait -- an hour -- before he showed up in the foyer to give a five-minute speech and didn't take any questions.

Hopefully this will not be the norm, even though assistants offered bottles of water to reporters waiting around. What was the hold up?

Luo came to Hong Kong in December 2018 and met Lam

One RTHK reporter noted on Twitter that Luo's leg was shaking as he spoke. Was this is nervous tic or some other sign?

In any event, what's interesting is that Luo is at retirement age, but was pulled out from impending pasture to look after a jurisdiction he doesn't have much experience let alone understanding of the city. Why was he chosen?

Luo was previously party leader of Shanxi province, and seems to have lots of experience fighting corruption, and has a PhD in economics. It is expected he will do his best to stimulate the economy, but he gave no outline of a plan in his speech.

"In the past six months, the situation in Hong Kong has been heart-wrenching. We earnestly hope Hong Kong can return to the right track," he said, while also quoting President Xi Jinping as saying in his new year remarks that there would not be a peaceful home without a harmonious, stable environment.

How will Luo get the city back on track? He can't do that without a strong strategy that he didn't disclose, while reiterating the central government's support of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.

"It is believed that with the efforts of Chief Executive Carrie Lam, the government and various sectors in society, the constitution and Basic Law can be fully implemented," he said. "One country, two systems" will be implemented steadily in the long-term, and the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong can be maintained. I'm fully confident in this," he said to reporters.

So while the government continues to back Lam, what is the plan to get Hong Kong out of this political conundrum despite not knowing the city well? Seems like Luo is more than qualified for a different problem, but we shall see how the protests are treated from now on.
 Meanwhile, Wang has been sent back to Beijing and shunted off to a job to be deputy chief of the Central Institute for Party History and Literature Research. He must be relieved to be pulled out of the hot seat...