China appoints hardliner Zheng Yanxiong as Hong Kong security chief

China has appointed an official who became prominent during a 2011 clampdown on protesters in China as director of its new national security office in Hong Kong, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday. Zheng Yanxiong, 56, most recently served as the secretary general of the Communist Party committee of Guangdong province, an economic powerhouse bordering Hong Kong.

The new security agency was established under national security legislation that China imposed this week on Hong Kong that will punish crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison, heralding a more