The Central Leading Group on Hong Kong and Macau Affairs is an internal policy coordination group of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), reporting to the CCP Politburo, in charge of supervising and coordinating Beijing's policies towards the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
[1] In order to deal with increasingly serious July 1 marches in Hong Kong in 2003, then Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) member and Vice President Zeng Qinghong became leader of the group that year, and China's policy towards the SARs underwent significant reforms.
[citation needed] Most notably, the group enacted the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) and the Mainland and Macau Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, preferential trade agreements, and the Individual Visit Scheme, which allowed mainlanders to visit Hong Kong and Macau on an individual basis without having to apply for group visas or go through officially approved tour groups.
[5] The Hong Kong and Macau Work Office is the executive arm of the Central Leading Group, responsible for researching, coordinating between national and local governments, and supervising the implementation of Hong Kong and Macau affairs related policies, such as the one country, two systems framework and national security.
Other members generally include head of the United Front Work Department, director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the CCP Committee secretary and governor of Guangdong, and the directors of the Hong Kong and Macau Liaison Offices.