Luo Huining, the new director of Beijing’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong, has penned a letter slamming the actions of medical personnel who went on strike earlier this month as a “political form of coronavirus” seeking to sow divisions between Hong Kong and the mainland.
Beijing’s top representative in the city went on to urge unity amid the COVID-19 outbreak, and said that that malcontents’ efforts to scuttle the (already abysmal) relations between the city and the central government were destined to fail.
“How is this not a political form of coronavirus?” Luo asked in a letter to Hong Kong delegates of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
“Hospital staff going on strike is taking advantage of somebody when they are weak, putting the lives and wellbeing of the general public, their co-workers and the whole society into jeopardy,” he wrote in the letter.
The medical workers’ strike was undertaken by the recently established Hospital Authority Employees Alliance, which grew out of last year’s months-long pro-democracy protests. Thousands of doctors and nurses reportedly took part in the strike, which sought to force the government to completely seal Hong Kong’s border with the mainland to stem the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
The strike ended after five days, after the government closed all but three ports of entry and imposed new mandatory quarantine measures for arrivals from the mainland, though a small portion of union member had wanted to press for a full border closure.
Luo characterized the industrial action as a deliberate attempt to damage relations between Hong Kong and the mainland.
“More and more Hong Kong fellows would agree, nobody is an island, and Hong Kong shouldn’t become an island,” Luo wrote.
(Statistically speaking, however, more locals than ever identify themselves as “Hongkongers” as opposed to “Chinese,” according to a survey conducted last year.)
Luo was considered a strange choice to lead the liaison office when he was appointed in January. He had not had any prior work experience relating to Hong Kong — having previously been party secretary of Shanxi province — and was meant to be easing into retirement at the time of his appointment.
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