Beijing’s top official on Hong Kong affairs spent a night over the border in Shenzhen during his two-day inspection tour of Hong Kong this week.
HK01 and Sing Tao Daily reported on Wednesday that Xia Baolong, who arrived in Hong Kong on Tuesday, did not stay in the city that night but returned through the Huanggang border checkpoint the following morning
The arrangement differs from previous visits when Xia “usually stayed in Hong Kong,” Sing Tao reported.
Citing anonymous government sources, local media said the new arrangement aimed “to promote the seamless connectivity of the infrastructure between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.”
“Xia Baolong’s decision to return to Shenzhen for overnight stay was a ‘live test’ of the current border clearing procedures and transportation infrastructure, ” the Chinese-language report said.
Shipping terminals, border checkpoint
Xia completed his inspection tour on Wednesday evening after visiting the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals in the afternoon. Hong Kong’s transport and logistic minister Mable Chan briefed Xia on the the development of the city’s shipping industry.
Earlier in the day, he visited the new facilities at the Huanggang checkpoint. Hong Kong authorities reconstructed the border crossing and is about to introduce a “joint-clearance” policy with mainland authorities.
Xia visited eight sites in Hong Kong on the first day of his trip, with a focus of the development of Northern Metropolis – a massive tech hub development in the New Territories.
Xia is director of the Hong Kong and Macau work office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
The 73-year-old official started to pay annual visits to Hong Kong in 2023, when Beijing formed a new Hong Kong and Macau work office directly under Communist Party. Formerly, the Hong Kong and Macau affairs office was under the State Council of the Chinese government.
Government statements relating to Xia’s previous visits did not mention where Xia stayed the night.
In 2025, HK01 citing sources in saying that Xia stayed at the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong (OCMFA) during his visits between 2023 and 2025.
