John P. Burns: The Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong

The CCP in Hong Kong has come a long way as it emerges from the shadows in Hong Kong. From its united front work beginnings, the party in Hong Kong now wields direct de facto authority over the Hong Kong government as it “supervises, guides, coordinates, and supports” the HKSAR to play a more integrated role with the mainland. But the party does not have access to the most important tool it uses on the mainland—a substantial network of loyal party members. Building such a network in Hong Kong is a long and difficult process. Identifying, evaluating, testing, further evaluating, and testing again, and so forth is a lengthy and costly process. Yet this is what the party is now doing with accelerated speed.

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