Zhou Ji (Chinese: 周霁; born May 1964) is a Chinese politician and member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who is currently serving as the served as director of the Hong Kong Liaison Office and secretary of the Hong Kong Work Committee of the Chinese Communist Party since May 2025.
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Early life
Zhou was born on May 1964 in Xiangyang city in Hubei, China.
Political career
After graduating from Hubei University of Technology in 1984, Zhou began his career in Xiangyang, where he held a series of positions in the municipal machinery industry. During nearly two decades in the sector, he worked in government administration and state-owned enterprises, rising from a local bureau official to chairman of Xiangzhou Bearing Group Corporation. He also completed part-time studies in law at Wuhan University and later earned a master's degree in electronic and communication engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
In 2004, he was appointed Communist Party secretary of Gucheng County in Hubei. Later that year, he joined the Standing Committee of the Xiangyang Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. In 2006, he was transferred to serve as Communist Party secretary of Xiantao. In June 2010, Zhou was appointed acting mayor of Shiyan and was formally elected mayor later that year. He became Communist Party secretary of Shiyan in May 2012. Four years later, he joined the Standing Committee of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party while concurrently serving as Communist Party secretary of Yichang. In December 2020, Zhou was transferred to Henan, where he became a member of the provincial Party standing committee and deputy secretary of the provincial government's Party leadership group. He was appointed Executive Vice Governor of Henan in January 2021 and was promoted to deputy Communist Party secretary of Henan in October that year. The following month, he also became secretary of the Henan Provincial Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
In July 2023, Zhou was appointed executive deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Work Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, a ministerial-level position. On 30 May 2025, Zhou was appointed director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, succeeding Zheng Yanxiong. He also concurrently assumed the role of National Security Adviser to the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Zhou's appointment followed the unexpected removal of Zheng, whose departure was announced without an official explanation. Chief Executive of Hong Kong John Lee described the leadership change as a "normal" personnel adjustment, while Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with the matter, that Zheng's removal may have been linked to Beijing's dissatisfaction over the proposed sale of CK Hutchison's global ports business. Chinese authorities did not publicly confirm the reported reason for the reshuffle.