Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that Hong Kong had been “reborn of fire,” as he arrived to mark the 25th anniversary of the territory’s handover today, in his first visit since Hong Kong’s democracy movement was crushed.
Xi’s trip is a chance for the Chinese Communist Party to showcase its control after huge protests engulfed the territory in 2019, prompting Beijing to impose a harsh crackdown.
“In the past period, Hong Kong has experienced more than one serious test, and overcome more than one risk and challenge,” Xi said after arriving at a high-speed railway station in the heart of the city. “After the storms, Hong Kong has been reborn of fire and emerged with robust vitality.”
Photo: Bloomberg
Today’s anniversary also marks the halfway point of the 50-year governance model agreed by Britain and China under which Hong Kong would keep some autonomy and freedoms.
Critics say a National Security Law imposed by Beijing after the 2019 protests has eviscerated those promised freedoms, but Xi yesterday insisted that “the facts have proved that ‘one country, two systems’ has great vitality.”
“It can guarantee long-term stability and prosperity in Hong Kong, and defend the well-being of Hong Kong people,” he added.
Xi’s visit is the first time he has left mainland China since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Accompanied by his wife, Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛), and Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅), he was greeted at the station by schoolchildren waving flags and bouquets of flowers, as well as lion dancers and select accredited media.
Details around the trip have been kept tightly under wraps, and the visit has sparked a massive security effort.
Government leaders have been forced into an anti-COVID “closed-loop” system, parts of the territory shut down and multiple journalists barred from today’s events.
Xi is likely to spend the night in Shenzhen on the mainland.
Those coming into Xi’s orbit during the trip, including the highest-ranking government officials, have been made to limit their social contacts, take daily polymerase chain reaction tests and check into a quarantine hotel in the days leading up to the visit.
“To play safe, if we are going to meet the paramount leader and other leaders in close quarters, I think it is worthwhile to go into the closed-loop arrangements,” veteran pro-Beijing politician Regina Ip (葉劉淑儀) said.
Authorities have moved to eliminate any potential source of embarrassment during Xi’s time in Hong Kong, with national security police making at least nine arrests over the past week.
The League of Social Democrats (LSD), one of Hong Kong’s few remaining opposition groups, said that it would not demonstrate today after national security officers spoke with volunteers associated with the group.
LSD leaders said their homes had been searched, and that they had also had conversations with the police.
LSD President Chan Po-ying (陳寶瑩) said that over the past few days, she had begun to feel that she was being followed and watched.
Hong Kong’s top polling group announced that it would delay publishing the results of a survey that gauged government popularity “in response to suggestions from relevant government departments after their risk assessment.”
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