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Chinese President Xi Jinping assured that Hong Kong “was reborn from the fire” upon his arrival on Thursday to attend the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the return of this former British colony to the communist power of Beijing.
With Nerea Hernández, RFI correspondent in Beijing
“In the past period, Hong Kong has experienced more than one serious test, and has overcome more than one risk and challenge. After the storms, Hong Kong was reborn from the fire and emerged with vigorous vitality,” Xi said, in his first visiting this territory since a pro-democracy movement was crushed.
“Facts have shown that the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ principle is full of vitality,” said Xi, who is also making his first trip outside mainland China since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019.
Accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Xi, who arrived by high-speed train, was greeted at the station by schoolchildren with flags and flowers, dancers dressed as lions and some accredited media.
A controversial visit
This visit is historic and controversial for several reasons. On the one hand, it is the first time that the Chinese president has gone outside the Chinese mainland since the pandemic began. And he does so even though Hong Kong is now experiencing a new wave of COVID-19 infections. For this reason, the visit is carried out in a “closed circuit”, which requires officials, volunteers and participants in the events to maintain prior quarantines.
Secondly, this visit takes place after the implementation of the controversial Security Law that persecutes any opposition movement to the One China principle. A political cleansing that has put the “patriots” in the regional government. A new Legislative Council has been in operation for a few months and now the region will have a new chief faithful to Beijing.
Third, the 20th National Congress is approaching where Xi hopes to be re-elected and consolidate his power. His visit to Hong Kong after years of riots and strong opposition is a demonstration that Beijing controls Hong Kong, while demonstrating that the region can move from chaos to governability, even if freedoms and democracy remain in the middle.
The League of Social Democrats, one of the few remaining opposition groups in Hong Kong, reported that they will not demonstrate on July 1 after a visit by national security agents to volunteers associated with the entity.
And the city’s main public opinion institute announced it would delay a government popularity poll “in response to suggestions from relevant government departments following risk assessment.”
Traditionally, the anniversary of the retrocession of July 1, 1997, has been marked by peaceful demonstrations of tens of thousands of people.
But mass gatherings have disappeared from Hong Kong in recent years due to a mix of coronavirus health restrictions and a crackdown orchestrated by local authorities and Beijing to quell any public opposition to communist rule.
This democratic cutback is the lack of press freedom denounced by local and international media, such as AFP and Reuters. Strict anti-pandemic requirements and lists of unauthorized reporters leave media coverage of this visit in the hands of official media.
In the midst of strong turmoil on the international scene, China seems to enjoy keeping its own territory under control, while others outside seem to place it on the side of Russia in the new world context. Of course, these are dangerous times.
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