Zheng Yanxiong (; born 25 August 1963) is a Chinese politician currently serving as director of the

Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong The Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (; abbr. LOCPG or 香港中聯辦) is the agency that represents the Chinese Central People's Government in Hong Kong. It replaced the New Ch ...

. Previously, he was the director of the

Office for Safeguarding National Security of the CPG in the HKSAR The Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Abbreviation: CPGNSO; ) is a state security agency established by the Hong Kon ...

. Zheng is known for controversial statements denouncing foreign media reporting on the

Wukan protests The Wukan protests (), also known as the Siege of Wukan, was an anti-corruption protest that began in September 2011, and escalated in December 2011 with the expulsion of officials by villagers, the siege of the town by police, and subsequent d� ...

Shanwei Shanwei (), or Swabue is a prefecture-level city in eastern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China. It borders Jieyang to the east, Meizhou and Heyuan to the north, Huizhou to the west, and looks out to the South China Sea to the south. I ...

in 2011, and for the crackdown of renewed protests in Shanwei in 2016.

Early life and education

Zheng was born in the Chaonan District of Shantou,

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, in August 1963. In July 1984, he graduated from

Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine () is a university in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, China. It is a Chinese state Double First Class University, included in the state Double First Class University Plan. History It was ...

, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of acti ...

. After graduation, he worked at the university. In May 1986, he joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

(CCP). Zheng Yanxiong speaks

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

Career

Guangzhou

In September 1992, he was appointed head of the Youth Work Department of Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Communist Youth League of China. One year later, he became a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee and was appointed head of the Urban Rural Department of Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Communist Youth League of China. In 1995, he earned a master of economics degree from

Sun Yat-sen University Sun Yat-sen University (, abbreviated SYSU and colloquially known in Chinese as Zhongda), also known as Zhongshan University, is a national key public research university located in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It was founded in 1924 by and nam ...

. He became deputy secretary-general of South China Branch of '' People's Daily'' in March 1998, and then secretary-general, beginning in December of the same year. In January 2002, he was appointed deputy director of the Policy Research Office of Guangdong Provincial CCP Committee.

Shanwei

In January 2005, he was transferred to

and appointed Deputy Communist Party Secretary and Secretary of Discipline Inspection Commission. On 11 January 2009, he was promoted to become mayor of Shanwei, and then

Communist Party Secretary A Party Committee Secretary () is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the ''de facto'' highest political office of its area of jurisdictio ...

, beginning in August 2011. During his term in office, he dealt with the

. He became well-known as party secretary in Shanwei when a protest by villagers in Wukan seeking compensation for land requisitioned by the government broke out in 2011.

Guangzhou

In July 2013, he was transferred back to

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

and appointed executive vice director of Publicity Department of Guangdong Provincial Committee of the CCP. In May 2018, he became executive deputy secretary-general and director of the Policy Office of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the CCP. In October of that same year, he was promoted to become secretary-general of the committee. On 29 January 2019, he was elected a member of the Standing Committee of the committee.

Hong Kong

On 3 July 2020, he was appointed as the director of the newly established

. In August 2020, Zheng and ten other officials were sanctioned by the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

under

Executive Order 13936 Executive Order 13936, entitled "The President’s Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization", is an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on July 14, 2020. On the same day Trump had signed into law Hong Kong Autonomy Act, one ...

President Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

for undermining Hong Kong's autonomy. On 14 October 2020, the United States Department of State released a report on ten individuals who materially contributed to the failure of China to meet its obligations under the

Sino–British Joint Declaration The Sino-British Joint Declaration is a treaty between the governments of the United Kingdom and China signed in 1984 setting the conditions in which Hong Kong was transferred to Chinese control and for the governance of the territory after ...

and Hong Kong's Basic Law. Zheng was on the list. On 14 January 2023, he was appointed as the director of the

References

External links

Zheng Yanxiong's press conference on the Wukan protests on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zheng, Yanxiong 1963 births Living people Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine alumni Sun Yat-sen University alumni People's Republic of China politicians from Guangdong Chinese Communist Party politicians from Guangdong Individuals sanctioned by the United States under the Hong Kong Autonomy Act Chinese individuals subject to U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions