face being given

HI

I want to know the meaning of "face being given" in below phrase in The Economist.

The author’s entertaining language brings these diaries to life. They were clearly written (or dictated) for a wide audience as well as his close circle. The escapades of his Norfolk terriers, Whisky and Soda, are as keenly observed as the machinations of his critics. As he sails off on the Royal yacht, Britannia, after a handover ceremony attended by the “coelacanths of Leninism” (who had given up on the idea of outcompeting Britannia by arriving in their own vast boat), his enemies are still on his tail: Chinese intelligence ships that “must have been mystified by the amount of ‘face’ being given to the departed colonial governor”.

Link is here.
<The diaries of the last British governor of Hong Kong>

Hope some kind person will kindly explain to me by using some para-phrase explanation.

Inouez78

This is "face" with the meaning "respect, honour, consideration, reputation-boosting".

The amount of ‘face’ being given to the departed colonial governor = the extent to which his honour and reputation was being boosted.

The quotation marks indicate an unusual meaning, but it is one that is in the dictionary (face - WordReference.com Dictionary of English):
Here, the meaning is more dignity and prestige rather than good reputation.