Hard sell? State leader Zhang Dejiang gets PR tips ahead of Hong Kong trip

One of the multinational public relations firms that was reportedly making pitches to Beijing for an image makeover has offered a piece of advice to Zhang Dejiang (張德江), the state leader scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong on Tuesday – convey political messages in a way that can relate to the people.

Rachel Catanach, senior vice-president at FleishmanHillard Hong Kong, said: “It’s safe to assume the Hong Kong audience will be looking for answers on a variety of local issues, including Beijing’s commitment to Hong Kong’s Basic Law. So he’ll need to consider this.

“But Mr Zhang should also take the opportunity to go beyond and focus on explaining the potential economic benefits for Hong Kong of the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative.

“Showing Hong Kong people that [it] is not a wealth distribution exercise, but one that will drive real economic growth for [Hong Kong], will do more to facilitate relations than any contrived [public relations] activity.”

“One Belt, One Road” is a development strategy by the central government to revive the land and maritime Silk Roads dating back to the days of Marco Polo.

Zhang, chairman of the National People’s Congress will pay a three-day visit here to inspect development of the city. During his stay he is expected to attend Wednesday’s Belt and Road Summit at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.