Angela Leong omitted from Zhuhai CPPCC

Angela Leong

According to a document issued last month by the Central Government’s Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Macau lawmaker and SJM director Angela Leong will no longer serve as a member in the latest iteration of the Zhuhai CPPCC standing committee.

The document issued by the Central Government announced the 286 members of the Ninth Committee of the Zhuhai CPPCC, who represent various sectors of business and society. The Ninth Committee held its first session earlier this month on January 12, when it elected its new chairman, vice-chairmen and secretary-general, under the supervision of the national standing committee.

Leong, who has previously been a part of the committee, was absent from this year’s list of 286 members.

An official source told the Times that the Central Government is seeking to prevent persons of influence from holding multiple affiliations within China and implied that the omission of Leong was not politically motivated.

“There is a policy in China, at a municipal level, whereby they are enforcing an existing law more vigorously. [The law dictates] that people should avoid holding multiple public and private positions within China,” the source told the Times.

The source also said that there exists a quota for the number of ‘special members’ of Zhuhai’s standing committee, namely those who are not from Zhuhai. This quota has been flexible in the past but is now also being enforced more strictly “with no exceptions”, the source explained.

The Times attempted to reach Leong’s representatives through avenues including her office at SJM Holdings and the New Union for Macau’s Development – the political association with which she normally aligns as a lawmaker – but no reply was received by press time. PC/DB