Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - As Chinese President Xi Jinping prepared to swear in the city's new leader and attend ceremonies to ...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - As Chinese President Xi Jinping prepared to swear in the city's new leader and attend ceremonies to mark the 25th anniversary of the former British colony's handover to Beijing, authorities deployed a sizable security force around Hong Kong on Friday.
Near the convention centre, where the last colonial governor, Chris Patten, somberly returned Hong Kong to China in a ceremony held in the rain in 1997, main streets and walkways were decorated with red lanterns and posters heralding a "new age" of stability.
The city was experiencing its first storm of the year when a group of authorities gathered near to Victoria Harbour for a flag-raising ceremony in the chilly morning. The flags of China and Hong Kong were flown overhead by helicopters.
Xi reportedly spent the night in Shenzhen after arriving in Hong Kong on Thursday, so he did not attend the flag-raising ceremony. The new mayor of the city, John Lee, will be sworn in by him when he returns to the financial centre early on Friday.
Following large-scale pro-democracy protests in 2019, Beijing reinforced its grip over Hong Kong by enacting a comprehensive national security law. Some commentators view Xi's visit as a victory trip.
On Thursday, when Xi arrived in Hong Kong, he declared that the city had conquered its difficulties and "risen from the ashes."
John Lee, a former head of Hong Kong's security who was sanctioned by the US for his involvement in enacting the new national security law, assumes control as the world's financial centre struggles under some of the most stringent COVID-19 restrictions in existence.
Xi's visit to Hong Kong is his first since 2017, when he installed Carrie Lam as the city's first female leader. Lam presided over some of the territory's most turbulent moments, including the COVID epidemic and the 2019 anti-government protests.
On July 1, 1997, Britain handed up control of Hong Kong to China under the terms of the "one nation, two systems" formula, which ensures a high degree of autonomy and judicial independence not found in mainland China.
Government critics, notably those from Western countries, claim that authorities are stifling these freedoms, but Beijing and Hong Kong disagree.
