For the first time since the pro -democracy movement which rocked the city in 2019, the strong man of Beijing is on the move in Hong Kong where the law on national security imposed in 2020 reduced the promised freedoms. p>
Le Monde with AFP
Chinese President Xi Jinping opened on Friday 1 July, the ceremony of celebration of 25 e anniversary of the Hongkong retrocession to China, in a city placed under close surveillance.
The ceremony, which includes the swearing in of the new chief of the local executive John Lee, is an opportunity to display the stranglehold of the Chinese Communist Party on the city since the great movement of pro -Democracy demonstrations of 2019 which Embrasy Hong Kong, inciting Beijing to impose strict political repression.
The Chinese president assured, Friday in his speech, that the principle “a country, two systems” gives a certain degree of autonomy in Hong Kong. This model is “such a good system, there is no reason to change it, and it must be maintained in the long term,” said Xi Jinping, adding that everything Beijing had done was “for Hongkong’s good “.
A law on national security liberticide
The principle “a country, two systems” was negotiated between London and Beijing at the time of the retrocession of the former British colony to China in 1997. He devoted a period of fifty years during which Hongkong must enjoy A certain autonomy and guaranteed freedoms.
“After reunification with the motherland, the inhabitants of Hong Kong became the masters of their own city,” launched the Chinese president, evoking a “real democracy” since the retrocession.
But the National Security Act, imposed in 2020 by Beijing after the 2019 demonstrations, reduced promised freedoms. Until then, the 1 er July was an opportunity to demonstrate the freedoms enjoyed by the city, with thousands of inhabitants parading on the sidelines of the celebrations to express their political and social demands. But this procession, like any gathering, has been prohibited by the police for two years, officially for health and security reasons.
The American Secretary of State Antony Blinken also deplored the “erosion of autonomy” caused by this law in the territory on Thursday. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to “abandon” Hong Kong.
Closed circuit
This visit is the Chinese president’s first trip outside of continental China since the start of the Cavid-19 pandemic. Ceremonies are organized in a closed circuit system by health. The people who are in the president’s orbit during his trip, including the highest government officials, were invited to limit their contacts, to submit to daily PCR tests and to spend the days preceding the visit to a Quarantine hotel.
Certain parts of the city have been closed and many journalists have been prohibited from access to the expected events. Authorities have taken measures to eliminate any potential source of embarrassment during Xi Jinping’s stay. National security police arrested at least nine people last week. A dozen members of the Social Democrats League (LSD), one of the last political parties of Hong Kong, were contacted by the police so that they do not demonstrate. LSD leaders told the France-Presse (AFP) agency that their houses had been searched.
The city is lined with posters proclaiming a new era of “stability, prosperity and opportunity”. The football fields of the Victoria park, which usually hosted the pro -democracy demonstrations, host an exhibition celebrating the birthday, with the high point of an immense Chinese flag, flanked by a smaller Hong Kongais, each occupying half of a field.