A Hong Kong representative of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) expressed that he felt pressured to join the campaign, otherwise his non-cooperation would be reported to the Liaison Office.

[6] The Liaison Office led by Gao Siren backed the Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa government to push forward the controversial legislation of the national security bill as stipulated in the Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23.

It was said that the Liaison Office was too close to the pro-Beijing Hong Kong elites and naturally provided over-positive reports on the HKSAR to Beijing.

In the 2004 Legislative Council election, the Liaison Office mobilised the members of the pro-Beijing interest groups and housing associations, including the Hokkien community, to support and vote for the DAB and the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) candidates.

The Liaison Office worked on nurturing better educated candidates from the middle class to compete with the pro-democrats including Starry Lee and Chan Hak-kan of the DAB in the 2008 Legislative Council election.

This allegation sparked a controversy in which the pan-democracy camp and business community condemned the Liaison Office of meddling into Hong Kong domestic affairs.

Leung Chun-ying was also criticised of undermining the "One Country, Two Systems" principle when he made a high-profile visit to the Liaison Office a day after his victory.

[15] Starting from the end of August 2016, Sing Pao Daily News, which is known to be pro-Beijing, has been running anonymous critiques of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and the Liaison Office.

The paper accused Leung and the Liaison Office of "inciting" Hong Kong independence and accused the Liaison Office of interfering in Hong Kong's domestic affairs and manipulating local Legislative Council elections by supporting groups that divide the pro-democracy camp, including the localist groups such as Youngspiration which had pro-independence tendency.

The paper then urged the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Chinese Communist Party to investigate Leung and Zhang Xiaoming, the Director of the Liaison Office, over power abuse.

[17] On 21 July 2019, protesters surrounded the Hong Kong Liaison Office and defaced the Chinese national emblem, an act that was condemned by the government.

In October 2020, SCMP reported that an employee from the Liaison Office had told lawmakers to not meet with officials from the Five Eyes (Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States) or countries from Europe.

[18] In November 2020, following the expulsion of 4 pro-democracy lawmakers from the Legislative Council, the Liaison Office said, "The political rule that Hong Kong must be governed by patriots shall be firmly guarded.

[27] Residents at his apartment (10-16 Ching Wah Street in North Point, a building owned by the Liaison Office) were required to undergo virus testing.

[31] The Liaison Office also supervises the mainland's enterprises, including owning three pro-Beijing newspapers in Hong Kong Ta Kung Pao in Wan Chai, Wen Wei Po in Aberdeen, and Commercial Daily in Kowloon, through a subsidiary company called Guangdong New Culture Development.

[citation needed] However, in April 2020, the Central People's Government said that the Liaison Office was not classified under Article 22,[40] and claimed their ability to “exercise supervision and express solemn attitudes on affairs regarding Hong Kong”.

[22] In April 2021, a deputy director, Tan Tieniu, rejected claims that the decision by the NPCSC to have only "patriots" serve in the government was a step back for democracy in the city.