Chinese leader Xi arrives in Hong Kong meant for handover anniversary

HK: Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Hong Kong Thursday (Jun 30) to attend celebrations tagging the 25th anniversary of the city’s handover from Britain in order to China.

Xi travelled in to the city by high-speed train, the first time they have left mainland China and taiwan since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan and International Minister Wang Yi, he was greeted at the station simply by schoolchildren waving red flags and bouquets associated with flowers, as well as lion dancers and select certified media.

Based on Chinese state media, Xi said in the speech that Hong Kong will have a good future if it does not oscillate on the One Country Two Systems rule, which has “strong vitality”.

Hong Kong had been “reborn of fire”, he said.

“After the thunder storms, Hong Kong has been reborn of fire plus emerged with strong vitality… The facts have proved that One Country, Two Systems provides great vitality, inch he added.

Details around the vacation have been kept firmly under wraps, as well as the visit has sparked a massive security energy.

Government leaders have been forced in to an anti-COVID “closed-loop” system, parts of the town shut down, and multiple journalists barred from Friday events that will showcase the Communist Party’s control over the city after a political crackdown that dismantled the democracy movement plus crushed dissent.

The Chinese innovator will likely spend the night in neighbouring Shenzhen on the mainland.

Those coming into Xi’s orbit during the vacation, including the highest-ranking federal government officials, have been made to limit their social contacts, take everyday PCR tests plus check into a quarantine hotel in the days leading up to the check out.

“To enjoy safe, if we are going to meet the paramount head and other leaders in close quarters, I believe it is worthwhile to look into the closed-loop preparations, ” veteran pro-Beijing politician Regina Ip told AFP.

TIGHT SECURITY

Authorities have moved to eliminate any possible source of embarrassment throughout Xi’s time in the city, with national safety police making a minimum of nine arrests in the last week.

The particular League of Interpersonal Democrats (LSD), certainly one of Hong Kong’s couple of remaining opposition organizations, said it will not demonstrate on July 1 after national protection officers spoke along with volunteers associated with the group.

LSD frontrunners told AFP their own homes had been researched, and that they had furthermore had conversations using the police.

Chan Po-ying, the group’s president, said that over the last few days she had begun to feel that she was being implemented and watched.

“In the past, there was clearly something like this too, but not as bad as this year, ” the veteran activist said.

Hong Kong’s top polling group announced that it would delay publishing the final results of a survey that gauged government recognition “in response to suggestions from relevant government departments after their particular risk assessment”.

The Jul 1 handover anniversary in Hong Kong has traditionally been marked by tens of thousands taking to the streets in peaceful rallies every year.

But mass events have essentially vanished in Hong Kong in the last few years under a combination of coronavirus restrictions along with a security crackdown aimed at eliminating any general public opposition to China’s uncompromising rule on the city.