Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that “Hong Kong has been reborn from the ashes” while visiting the city, its first trip out of mainland China in nearly 900 days.
Xi visited the city before the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s surrender of the United Kingdom to China on July 1.
The territory has undergone major changes since Xi last made a similar trip, in 2017. The city has been caught up in massive, sometimes violent, protests since the summer of 2019.
The following year, Beijing imposed a comprehensive national security law on Hong Kong, which the British government called “grave and deeply disturbing.”
Dozens of democracy advocates and politicians have been arrested in accordance with the law.
Xi arrived in the city on a high-speed train and was greeted by fans waving Chinese and Hong Kong flags.
“I am very happy to be in Hong Kong,” Xi said on arrival.
“It’s been five years since I last visited, and for the last five years I’ve been paying attention and thinking about Hong Kong.”
The Chinese president later said Hong Kong had been “reborn from the ashes” with “vigorous vitality”.
“As long as we stick to the framework of ‘one country, two systems,’ Hong Kong will certainly have a better future and make new and greater contributions to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people,” he said.
‘One country, two systems’ is the framework in which Hong Kong was returned to China 25 years ago, with the territory promised that its way of life would remain unchanged for 50 years.
Image: The 1997 handover ceremony was attended by dignitaries and other guests from around the world after the Union Jack was dropped off at the Hong Kong Convention Center on July 1 Photo: AP
On Friday, Xi will swear in the new leader of the global financial center, John Lee, who will take over from Carrie Lam.
The Office of Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth and Development has not commented so far on the anniversary of the relocation, but has regularly expressed concern about developments in Hong Kong.
In early May, the United Kingdom joined the G7 for a collective statement expressing “great concern about the process of selecting the chief executive … as part of a continuing assault on political pluralism and fundamental freedoms “.
In March, the government backed British judges who resigned from serving in Hong Kong’s higher courts due to the erosion of democracy and freedom caused by the new security law.
The same month, the British ambassador to the UN, Simon Manley, accused the Chinese government of continuing to “systematically undermine … rights and freedoms, in clear violation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration”, and added “The United Kingdom remains committed to keeping China in its international commitments.”
The joint declaration was a treaty between the United Kingdom and China signed in 1984 that set out the conditions under which Hong Kong was transferred to Chinese control and how the territory would be governed after July 1, 1997.
The island of Hong Kong had been a British colony since 1842 after being ceded to the United Kingdom after the First Opium War. Subsequently, in 1898, a 99-year lease was granted for a part called New Territories, which allowed for the expansion of British-controlled territory.
The statement set out how, after the transfer, a special administrative region would be established that would be self-governing with a high degree of autonomy, except in matters of foreign affairs and defense – hence “one country, two systems”.
It was supposed to be incorporated into the Hong Kong Basic Law, a constitution that established how the territory would be governed and would remain unchanged until 2047.
Following the introduction of the new Hong Kong security law, the UK government changed its rules to allow British foreign nationals in the territory to come to live in the UK, so it said it was “the historic compromise and UK morale with these people. ” of Hong Kong which chose to maintain its ties with the United Kingdom “.
By the end of March, there had been 123,400 applications from Britons abroad in Hong Kong to seize the opportunity for them and their families to live, work and study in the UK.
Beijing and the Hong Kong government reject allegations that they have breached previous agreements, saying they have “restored the order of chaos” so that the city can prosper.