With Xi Jinping's special public instructions on supporting Hong Kong's fight against the fifth wave of the epidemic, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and the Health and Health Commission's coordination and support for Hong Kong's epidemic prevention work has been strengthened.
The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council is an agency authorized by the Central Government of China to handle Hong Kong affairs.
On February 12, officials from the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and the Health and Health Commission attended the second China-Hong Kong Special Exchange Meeting on the New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemic held in Shenzhen.
Xi Jinping emphasized in the instruction: "The Hong Kong SAR government must take the main responsibility, take stabilizing and controlling the epidemic as soon as possible as the overriding task at present, mobilize all the forces and resources that can be mobilized, and take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of Hong Kong citizens' lives. and good health to ensure the overall social stability of Hong Kong. All relevant central departments and localities must fully support and help the Hong Kong SAR government to do a good job in epidemic prevention and anti-epidemic work.” This shows that in Xi Jinping’s view, the epidemic situation in Hong Kong is quite serious, so it is necessary to “resolve the epidemic as soon as possible. Stabilizing the epidemic is the overriding task at present."
This is also the only time in the past two years that Xi Jinping has issued intensive instructions and instructions for epidemic prevention in a specific place after the Wuhan epidemic. .
After Xi Jinping's public instructions were issued, Han Zheng, the first vice premier of the State Council of China, who is in charge of Hong Kong and Macao affairs, immediately asked "the relevant central authorities and Guangdong Province to urgently resolve the SAR government's proposal to improve Hong Kong's nucleic acid testing capabilities, support rapid antigen testing kits and other medical supplies, aid. Building community isolation and treatment facilities, ensuring the supply of daily necessities such as fresh food, and dispatching epidemic prevention experts to Hong Kong for guidance, etc.”
On February 16, Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council of China, presided over a coordination meeting to support Hong Kong's anti-epidemic work in Shenzhen. Several working groups were established to connect with the Hong Kong SAR government and solve the relevant requests for assistance from the Hong Kong SAR government one by one.
Also attending the epidemic prevention meeting on the same day were Wang Hesheng, deputy director of China's National Health Commission and director of the National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention, and his team.
On February 17, Wang Hesheng convened an expert working group meeting, instructing Guangdong Province to send the first batch of mainland China to support Hong Kong's anti-epidemic epidemiology team and mobile nucleic acid testing vehicles to enter Hong Kong on the same day.
According to Xinhua News Agency, Wang Hesheng will organize and coordinate the resources of all parties in the health system in the next step to assist Hong Kong's epidemic prevention.
Wang Hesheng's resume is unusual. He is not only the deputy director of China's National Health Commission and director of the National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention, specializing in the national epidemic prevention and control work, but also he was sent to Hubei when the epidemic in Wuhan was very serious two years ago. Served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and the director of the Hubei Provincial Health and Health Commission, and participated in commanding the epidemic prevention in Wuhan.
In April 2021, he left Hubei to serve as director of the newly formed National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention.
For nearly a year, he has led the team many times to carry out epidemic prevention and control inspections and guidance in various places.
Today, such an epidemic prevention leader specially organizes and coordinates the resources of the health system in Shenzhen to support Hong Kong's fight against the epidemic, which shows that the Chinese government attaches great importance to and cares about the epidemic prevention in Hong Kong, and more epidemic prevention resources will enter Hong Kong in the future.
All of the above means that the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council of China and the National Health Commission play a more important role in Hong Kong's epidemic prevention work, and even put forward more professional epidemic prevention suggestions to help Hong Kong successfully control the epidemic as soon as possible.
Of course, this is undoubtedly all under the framework of "one country, two systems", and the SAR government will be responsible for the coordination of specific local leaders in Hong Kong.
Regarding this point, Xi Jinping's instructions have made it very clear that "the Hong Kong SAR government should earnestly assume the main responsibility", and "all relevant central departments and localities should fully support and help the Hong Kong SAR government to do a good job in epidemic prevention and anti-epidemic work."
This is why it is also a special instruction for local epidemic prevention and control. Two years ago, when Xi Jinping instructed Wuhan to prevent epidemics, the content was relatively specific, and he directly provided work guidance, but when he instructed Hong Kong to prevent epidemics, the content was mainly general requirements and did not involve specific work.
This reflects the difference between the "two systems" in the mainland and Hong Kong, and shows that the Chinese government hopes to follow and maintain "one country, two systems" as much as possible even at a special moment when the severity of the epidemic in Hong Kong has clearly exceeded the Hong Kong SAR government's ability to respond. In principle, all anti-epidemic forces from the mainland are limited to their role of "full support and assistance to the Hong Kong SAR government in its anti-epidemic work".
Of course, due to the severity of the epidemic in Hong Kong and the continuous increase in support from the mainland, the role and role of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council and the National Health Commission will naturally increase significantly in response to actual needs.
Judging from the current epidemic prevention situation, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council of China, the National Health Commission and the Hong Kong SAR Government have formed a division of labor.
The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council should mainly play a coordinating role, not only coordinating requests for assistance from Hong Kong, but also coordinating the connection between the mainland's epidemic prevention resources and the Hong Kong SAR government. What Hong Kong lacks and needs, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office will coordinate what it needs, so as to play a role in Hong Kong's epidemic prevention crisis. Linkage between Hong Kong and the Mainland.
The National Health Commission, as its name implies, is naturally based on the request of the Hong Kong SAR government and the coordination of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, organizing various anti-epidemic resources to support Hong Kong, and giving professional guidance.
After all, the severity of the current epidemic in Hong Kong has exceeded expectations, and it is difficult for the Hong Kong government to deal with it alone. On the contrary, the National Health Commission successfully responded to the Wuhan epidemic that also exceeded the expectations of Hubei Province two years ago, and then dealt with sporadic outbreaks in various places. The epidemic has very rich experience in epidemic prevention, which can not only make up for the lack of experience of the Hong Kong SAR government, but also mobilize medical resources from the mainland to effectively support Hong Kong.
In this process, the Hong Kong SAR government, which shoulders the main responsibility, is responsible for the implementation of all epidemic prevention measures, which is inseparable from the active coordination of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council, the professional guidance of the National Health Commission and the mobilized medical resources.
Epidemic ｜ Wang Hesheng, deputy director of the National Health and Medical Commission, went to Shenzhen to assist Hong Kong. After he directed Wuhan to fight the epidemic, the only time Xi Jinping publicly instructed Hong Kong what kind of signal to send in epidemic prevention. Sun Chunlan "didn't come", Xi Jinping "come"!
｜Yu Pinhai
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