Sources familiar with the shake-up said Ding, 60, the sixth-ranked Politburo Standing Committee member, would take over from Han Zheng as the new leader of the party’s Central Leading Group of Hong Kong and Macau Works, the de facto highest decision-making body on policy for the two special administrative regions.

Han completed a vice-premiership term recently and was appointed vice-president at China’s national parliamentary session earlier this month.

Decisions made by Ding’s leading group will be carried out by its secretariat, the new “Hong Kong and Macau Work Office of the Communist Party Central Committee”, formed through an expansion of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) under the State Council, China’s cabinet.

One source said Ding’s main task would be to “continue to push forward Hong Kong and Macau integration with the mainland, and make firm progress in the development of the Greater Bay Area”.

“The process of regional integration has been largely stalled in the past five years due to Hong Kong’s social turmoil in 2019 and the Covid-19 pandemic which came right after,” he explained.

“Now, with Hong Kong’s return to stability, and reopening of the mainland-Hong Kong border, such integration will go full steam ahead in the coming years.”

Beijing’s top office on Hong Kong affairs gets revamp, will report to party chiefs

The source said Beijing had also asked veteran Xia, 71, who has been the HKMAO’s director since February 2020, to “stay on for more than a year”, despite having reached retirement age and stepped down from other key political positions.

Observers earlier expected Xia to retire after he stepped down in January as a vice-chairman for the country’s top political advisory body, following Luo Huining’s replacement by Zheng Yanxiong as the head of Beijing’s liaison office in the city.

Xia and Luo were appointed to oversee Hong Kong affairs in early 2020 after the anti-government protests erupted the year before.

“As executive vice-premier, Ding’s plate will be very full. It is important to have a veteran like Xia to stay on to assist him,” the source said.

He added that Xia had played a major role in changes that meant only “patriots” could wield political power in the city.

“Xia was instrumental in launching Hong Kong’s national security law and the electoral overhaul,” the source explained.

He said Xia would also be the executive deputy leader in the top group led by Ding and stay on as director of the new overarching body answerable to the core of the party leadership.

“In the next two years, he will supervise the restructuring over the transitional period and push forward for Hong Kong and Macau’s integration into the Greater Bay Area,” the source said.

Beijing said the restructure of the HKMAO would be completed by the end of the year.

Beijing’s top Hong Kong office to report directly to Communist Party leaders

A second source confirmed the new appointments and said the Hong Kong and Macau Work Office would move to new offices in central Beijing as its present home in the city’s Yuetan South Street could not accommodate the expanded headcount.

“But it has to wait for a while for the new place to be available after Beijing government bodies move out to the outskirts in Tongzhou district,” the second source said.

“By then, they will have an office big enough to house the expanded team under one roof.”

He added the new location should be near Zhongnanhai, where the top Communist Party leaders were based, because the work office would have to “report to the party leaders frequently”.