Xi will attend the inaugural ceremony of Hong Kong’s sixth government, which will take John Lee as its new leader. As security chief, Lee oversaw the police and government crackdown on pro-democracy activists during the massive protests in 2019. Lee succeeds controversial Carrie Lam.
Lee will take up his new position on July 1, the 25th anniversary of the British handing over of Hong Kong to China after 156 years of colonial rule. At the time of the handover, it was agreed that Hong Kong would have a special status within China for the next fifty years.
Hong Kong residents have more freedoms than mainland Chinese due to the ‘one country, two systems’ principle, but these have already been severely curtailed under Lam’s leadership by Beijing. The European Union also regrets the manner in which Lee has been appointed.