The country's top diplomat in Hong Kong, Liu Guangyuan, has been appointed by the State Council as a deputy director of the liaison office.

Liu had been Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong since 2021, and recently led a delegation of consuls general and business leaders on a tour to the mainland to see the latest developments of Beijing's Belt and Road initiative.

Liu, who joined the Foreign Ministry in 1986, is a veteran expert in Sino-US affairs. He served as deputy consul general in San Francisco and minister at the Chinese embassy in Washington, before taking over external security affairs back in China.

He succeeds Chen Dong, 59, who's a Basic Law Committee member and a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.