The director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Xia Baolong on Friday said the SAR’s politicians need to maintain unity, according to a local deputy to the country's top consultative body.

Speaking to reporters after a closed-door meeting with Xia at the liaison office, Henry Tang quoted the HKMAO director as saying that unity would help the SAR government work more efficiently.

Tang, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said he felt encouraged that Xia confirmed the city is now on the right path.

“He basically told us that this situation of being united now did not come easily. But now that we have forged this united front, we should continue to maintain our united front; because going forward, it is time that we have to [tackle] many livelihood issues – housing and education et cetera.”

According to a local NPC member, Xia said the city’s “desirable situation is hard to come by”.

Stanley Ng said Xia urged political representatives to treasure the situation by legislating Article 23 “as soon as possible”.

He said Xia also “alerted” them about the infiltration of foreign forces in subverting the country.

Starry Lee, Hong Kong's sole delegate to the National People's Congress Standing Committee, said Xia has called on political leaders to take concrete steps to contribute to the SAR and the country.

“This is the period that we have to build Hong Kong together. We have to have our economy grow, and in this special period, we also have to tackle our structural issue,” she said, adding that the senior Beijing official emphasised the importance of everyone in Hong Kong coming together.

Meanwhile, Lo Man-tuen, the vice of All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, said Xia’s visit implies that the central government has to “grasp Hong Kong’s actual situation in a highly accurate way”.

Beijing announced in March that the work office overseeing the two SARs will be put under the control of the Communist Party's central committee, rather than the State Council.

Lo said that was different from the past, when the central government “only listened to the reports from the liaison office”.