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and is an experienced administrator. The reports said he would arrive in HK on 1 May to familiarise himself with the local situation before taking up the post on 1 June. He was expected to pay a courtesy call on the Governor. It was also reported that the Chairman of Shanghai Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, Mr. Li Chuwen, would take over one of the deputy director posts here.
The following day, the HK Economic Journal said the HK Government had been officially informed of Mr. Xu's new appointment last week. The current director, Mr. Wang Kuang, would return to Beijing in a few days. His new posting was not yet known. The paper also said Mr. Xu was not a member of the Deng Xiaoping clique and his transfer was aimed at watering down the power of the conservatives in the province. However, the Financial Daily quoted a senior official of the Xinhua Office here as saying that he had heard nothing of the appointment. Quoting unnamed political analysts, the paper said it was unlikely that Mr. Xu would succeed Mr. Wang because of his old age and lack of experience of HK's situation.
Tin Tin Yat Po said on 29 April that Mr. Xu was a grade five officer in the Chinese Government. His posting to HK as Xinhua director, normally filled at grade six level, showed that China wanted to upgrade its representation in HK to provincial level. The paper said Mr. Xu's responsibility here would be to revamp local left-wing organisations with a view to eliminating exteme leftists.
2.
VISIT TO SHENZHEN:
A HK Government delegation, headed by the Political Adviser, Mr. Robin McLaren, made a two-day visit to Shenzhen on 28 and 29 April to review the programme of work of the joint HK-Shenzhen working groups established under an agreement signed on 30 April last year. Members of the group included the Regional Secretary (NT), Mr. Ian Macpherson; the Regional Secretary (HK and Kowloon), Mr. Graham Barnes; the Deputy Secretary for Transport, Mr. Michael Suen; and the Acting Deputy Secretary for Security, Mr. Alan Mason.
On his return, Mr. McLaren told a press conference that work on the secondary boundary to separate Shenzhen from the rest of Guangdong would be completed at the end of this year. The HK team understood that completion of this "second line" would permit simplification of customs procedures in Shenzhen which would in turn benefit economic development there. He made it clear that customs procedures on its HK side would remain unchanged. The new boundary line would have the incidental effect of making it even more difficult for illegal immigrants to enter HK from Shenzhen. Mr. McLaren said good progress had been made by the working groups. Earlier, Ta Kung Pao quoted a Shenzhen official as saying that the two sides agreed to build a two-level bridge east of the existing one at Lowu and another new bridge at Sha Tau Kok. Coaches would be allowed to use the Man Kam To checkpoint. Ferry services from HK to the holiday resort at Dai Xi Mei Sha would start operation at the end of this year. The two sides would also co-operate in dredging
the Shenzhen River.
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