Does the director of the liaison office in Hong Kong have real power?

Yes The Liaison Office is a ministerial-level unit, and the Liaison Office in Hong Kong is one of the four major institutions of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong. The director of the Liaison Office is a ministerial-level cadre, and the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is referred to as the Liaison Office for short. As long as its duty is to contact the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong and the institutions of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong and Macao, it will assist in handling Hong Kong and Macao-related affairs and undertake news exchanges between the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao.