Hong Kong: The Chinese government has spent at least $70 million (Dh257.11 million) buying Hong Kong properties over the past 12 months, official records show, as Beijing expands its presence after mass democracy protests raised tensions in the China-ruled city. Three sources said the move reflected Beijing’s desire to tighten its grip in Hong Kong after the youth-led ‘Occupy Central’ civil disobedience movement last year that posed one of the biggest political challenges to China’s Communist Party leaders in decades. “They’re very concerned,” said a Hong Kong delegate to China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, who meets with Liaison Office staff. “I think it’s natural for them to expand... They feel they have to try harder, most definitely.” The Liaison Office declined to comment on the purchases, which appeared to be mostly to house staff. It was not possible to confirm whether it has increased the size of its staff in Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s “basic law” includes promises from China of a high degree of autonomy for the former British colony, but there is no legal restriction against the Liaison Office, Beijing’s main representative in the city, buying property. Since December, the Liaison Office has paid more than $70 million for at least 62 new apartments, according to a Reuters review of more than 500 land registry records. This included a new block of 48 flats sold for HK$480 million ($62 million) by a company owned by Henderson Land’s billionaire chairman, Lee Shau-kee. The Liaison Office, set up in 1999, two years after Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule, already owned a sizeable real estate portfolio in one of the world’s most expensive property markets. Reuters calculations, based on the purchase prices listed on land registry documents, suggest the Liaison Office has spent around HK$3 billion ($387 million) on properties including an ocean-front clubhouse in the upmarket Stanley area, offices in six locations and at least 490 apartments. Around a quarter of that sum was spent after 2012. The Liaison Office has also sold one car park, one residential block, two shops, three apartments, one beachfront villa and three office units for a total of HK$1.23 billion since 1999, documents showed. The role of the Liaison Office and its operations in Hong Kong are little known, and it does not publish information on the size of its staff, its budget or property holdings. Reuters correspondents visited seven of the Liaison Office’s wholly-owned property blocks, purchased between 1985 and 2003. All were used as staff accommodation, according to people working in the buildings, property agents and neighbours. “It’s full of people from the Liaison Office,” said an employee working at ‘Louis Heights’, a 27-floor residential skyscraper in a gritty part of western Hong Kong Island. “I can’t tell you more,” the worker said, glancing around several times before hurrying off.
The Chinese government has spent upwards of $70m on Hong Kong properties over the last year in what is thought to be a bid to exert control over the city after Occupy Central protests last year questioned the rule of China’s Communist Party. The purchases have been made by Beijing’s Liaison Office, which has not revealed any details and has refused to comment on speculation. A spokesman for the office said it had no comment.