There is no reason to change Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” formula of governance, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) said yesterday on a rare visit to the territory after swearing in its new chief executive, John Lee (李家超).
Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese rule on July 1, 1997, with Beijing promising wide-ranging autonomy, unfettered individual rights and judicial independence at least until 2047.
China’s critics accuse authorities of trampling on those freedoms, unavailable on the authoritarian mainland, with Hong Kong’s National Security Law imposed by Beijing in 2020 after mass pro-democracy protests the year before.
Photo: EPA-EFE
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said that China had failed to meet its handover commitments.
China and Hong Kong reject the accusations, saying the law “restored order from chaos.”
Xi yesterday said that the “one country, two systems” formula was successful under China’s “comprehensive jurisdiction.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
“For this kind of good system, there is no reason at all to change it. It must be maintained over the long term,” Xi said.
“After experiencing wind and rain, everyone can painfully feel that Hong Kong cannot be chaotic, and must not become chaotic again... Hong Kong’s development cannot be delayed again, and any interference must be eliminated,” he said.
At the swearing-in ceremonies, all officials, including Xi, wore masks and did not shake hands.
Former police officer Lee, sanctioned by Washington over his role in implementing the security legislation, takes charge as the territory is facing an exodus of people and talent amid some of the toughest COVID-19 restrictions in the world.
Authorities deployed a massive security force, blocking roads and the airspace around the picturesque Victoria Harbour, where the last colonial governor, Chris Patten, tearfully handed Hong Kong back to China at a rain-drenched ceremony in 1997.
Red lanterns, Chinese and Hong Kong flags, and posters declaring a “new era” of stability decorated districts across the territory.
Xi did not attend the traditional flag-raising ceremonies yesterday, with media reporting he stayed overnight across the border in Shenzhen after arriving in Hong Kong on Thursday.
Xi’s visit to Hong Kong is his first since 2017, when he swore in outgoing chief executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) and stayed in the territory for the duration of his trip. His overnight whereabouts this time, and the reasons why he might have chosen Shenzhen, have not been officially confirmed.
“It is the end of an era, it is the end of ‘one country, two systems,’” exiled Hong Kong advocate Samuel Chu (朱牧民) said from Oslo, Norway. “This is a city that is no longer recognizable.”
As China waged extensive military exercises off Taiwan, a group of US defense experts in Washington was focused on their own simulation of an eventual — but for now entirely hypothetical — US-China war over the nation. The unofficial what-if game is being conducted on the fifth floor of an office building not far from the White House, and it posits a US military response to a Chinese invasion in 2026. Even though the participants bring a US perspective, they are finding that a US-Taiwan victory, if there is one, could come at a huge cost. “The results are showing that under
WRONG TIMING: The delegation’s trip has not only disappointed Taiwanese, but could send a wrong message to the global community, Tsai Ing-wen said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) yesterday left with a delegation for a trip to China, drawing fire for visiting at a time when Beijing has been conducting intensive military drills to pressure Taiwan. Before boarding, he told reporters that the delegation would be visiting Taiwanese communities and students in China, and possibly meet with Chinese officials. The Mainland Affairs Council on Tuesday night said that it was not the right time for political party members to visit China, as Beijing has been conducting military exercises since Thursday last week. President Tsai Ing- wen (蔡英文), chairperson of the Democratic
ORDNANCE: Under a five-year plan, the Chungshan Institute would make about 200 Hsiung Feng II and III/IIIE, and Hsiung Sheng missiles, an official said The Ministry of National Defense plans to counter the Chinese navy by producing more than 1,000 anti-ship missiles over the next five years, a defense official familiar with the matter said yesterday. The comments came after China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy began a series of military drills in a simulated naval blockade of Taiwan proper following a visit to Taipei by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Although China has in the past few years rapidly produced many warships and added them to its navy, these large vessels are more suited for warfare on the open sea than in the narrow
‘HONORED’: The DPP’s Lin Fei-fan said friends working in the foreign media, the diplomatic corps and at think tanks congratulated him for making the sanctions list The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday slammed China for sanctioning Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and six other Taiwanese officials for being “diehard separatists,” saying its attempt to intimidate Taiwanese would backfire. China has no authority to dictate the actions of Taiwanese, because Taiwan is a democratic nation that upholds the rule of law, and would never yield to intimidation and threats from an authoritarian regime, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a news conference in Taipei. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency earlier yesterday reported that the Taiwan Work Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee has imposed
RSS