Hong Kong rising from the ashes: Xi Jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping praises Hong Kong for being ‘reborn in fire’ since Britain handed it over to China 25 years ago.

China's President Xi Jinping speaks following his arrival in Hong Kong. Picture: AFP.

President Xi declared that Hong Kong had been “reborn from the ashes” under Chinese rule after he arrived in the territory yesterday for his first outing from the mainland in almost two and a half years.

His visit was marked by high tension, extravagant pandemic precautions and intense security, with all those who went near him, including journalists and flag-waving children, having to quarantine first. The local military garrison was on high alert, a no-fly zone was imposed, and he was expected to sleep in the neighbouring city of Shenzhen before returning to the territory.

Today he will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the handover of the territory by Britain after a century and a half of colonial rule. He will also witness the swearing in of Hong Kong’s new chief executive, John Lee, a former security chief and loyal servant of the mainland appointed at the behest of Beijing. Lee replaces Carrie Lam, who oversaw a steady erosion of freedoms and the stifling of free speech.

In a thinly veiled reference to British rule, Xi said the territory had overcome many challenges over the years. “My heart, the heart of the central government, has always been with Hong Kong compatriots,” he said as he arrived at the high-speed train station in West Kowloon. “For a period of time Hong Kong had endured stiff trials one after another, and it had overcome risks and challenges one after another. After the ordeals, Hong Kong has been reborn in fire and is showing signs of vibrancy.” He added: “As long as we stick to the ‘one country, two systems’ framework, Hong Kong will certainly have a brighter future.”

Later, after meeting Lam, Xi praised her for ending the protest movement that gripped the city, and ensuring that only “patriots” would rule there. Since the huge pro-democracy street demonstrations in 2019, Beijing has clamped down on the city with grim efficiency. The pandemic helped, giving the authority of public health reason for a ban on demonstrations that would have been imposed anyway.

Beijing has systematically undermined the arrangements that were agreed between Britain and China before the handover in 1997. Hong Kong’s partially elected Legislative Council, which was already structured to guarantee a majority for pro-Beijing parties, now has no effective opposition at all, with new rules permitting participation only by those aligned to Beijing.

The suppression of opposition news outlets reached its climax a year ago with the closure of the independent Cantonese newspaper Apple Daily, a fearless critic of Beijing. This month the online news agency FactWire became the tenth Hong Kong news organisation to close in a year.

A special unit of the Hong Kong police provides security in the city's Wanchai district as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives. Picture: AFP.

More than 200 politicians, journalists, lawyers and artists have been arrested, many of them under the terms of the national security law imposed two years ago. Hundreds of books mentioning the 2019 protests and the 1989 Tiananmen massacre in Beijing have been removed from shelves.

The fact that, despite all of this, Xi felt the need to go to such great lengths to keep away from ordinary Hongkongers yesterday (Thursday) was, in its way, an admission of defeat in reaching those who cannot remember the territory before the handover.

“As we said 25 years ago, the return of Hong Kong is not only about the return of the land,” the territory’s embattled Democratic Party said in a statement. “Most importantly, it is about the return of people’s hearts. You will only win the hearts of Hong Kong people by allowing us real democracy and bigger space for freedoms.”

The Times