Central Leading Group on Hong Kong and Macau Affairs

The Group was established as the Central Group on Hong Kong and Macao on 17 August 1978 though an informal Hong Kong-Macau affairs group had formed much earlier.^[1]

In order to deal with increasingly serious July 1 marches in Hong Kong in 2003, then Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) member and Vice President Zeng Qinghong became leader of the group that year, and China's policy towards the SARs underwent significant reforms.^{[citation needed]} It was upgraded to the Central Coordination Group on Hong Kong and Macao Affairs.^[2] Most notably, the group enacted the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) and the Mainland and Macau Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, preferential trade agreements, and the Individual Visit Scheme, which allowed mainlanders to visit Hong Kong and Macau on an individual basis without having to apply for group visas or go through officially approved tour groups.^{[citation needed]}

In 2020, in the context of the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, the group was upgraded from a Central Coordination Group to a Central Leading Group.^[3] Under a series of institutional reforms in 2023, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council became the external name of the "Hong Kong and Macau Work Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party".^[4][5]

The Central Leading Group is the CCP's top decision-making body in regards to Hong Kong and Macau.^[2] It reports to the Politburo and the Politburo Standing Committee, which discuss and approve top-level policies regarding Hong Kong and Macau.^[2]

The Hong Kong and Macau Work Office is the executive arm of the Central Leading Group, responsible for researching, coordinating between national and local governments, and supervising the implementation of Hong Kong and Macau affairs related policies, such as the one country, two systems framework and national security.^[2] The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council, previously a separate unit, is the external name of the Office.

Since 2003, the group has always been led by a member of the PSC. The leader of the Central Leading Group is generally the First Vice Premier, with the Minister of Public Security and director of the Hong Kong and Macau Work Office serving as deputy leaders. Other members generally include head of the United Front Work Department, director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the CCP Committee secretary and governor of Guangdong, and the directors of the Hong Kong and Macau Liaison Offices.^[2]

• Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office
• Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs