A mainland China-born official has assumed the position of Hong Kong’s exams authority chief, saying in his maiden press briefing on Thursday that he has not received any instructions from the authorities regarding Beijing’s recent emphasis on “patriots administering Hong Kong.”

Wei Xiangdong, an economics professor from the city’s Lingnan University, assumed office at the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority on March 1. He has lived in Hong Kong for 26 years and is in love with Hong Kong, he said.

“Regarding the national security law issue, we have not received any specific instructions from the government,” Wei said. “As far as our organization is concerned, we will always be following the curriculum guidelines to set papers for our students.”

The national security law imposed on the city by Beijing last June also requires local schools and universities to promote national security education.

Wei took over the post from former HKEAA secretary general So Kwok-sang, who resigned last year over an uproar on a public exam question about Sino-Japanese history, which the city’s education chief said was “leading and one-sided.”

“Japan did more good than harm to China in the period of 1900-45,” the now-withdrawn question asked exam-takers to argue the statement based on their own knowledge and reference to two sources provided, which outlined the situation of Chinese students studying in Japan and Japan’s loan to the republican government of the time.

The new HKEAA head received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Zhongshan University in mainland China, and later an economics PhD from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

As Hong Kong is a part of China, he also loves the country, said the former member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in the Longgang district in Shenzhen, who also described himself as a “good citizen.”

Wei’s appointment comes after Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, stressed that Hong Kong must be governed by patriots. The “patriots administering Hong Kong” idea was later adopted in Beijing’s planned overhaul of the city’s electoral system.

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