China’s President Xi arrives Hong Kong for handover anniversaryon June 30, 2022 at 8:24 am

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Hong Kong to mark 25 years since the former British colony returned to Beijing’s rule.

It is his first visit outside mainland China since the start of the pandemic nearly two-and-a-half years ago.

Mr Xi, who travelled by high-speed train, was greeted by pupils waving flags of China and Hong Kong.

Security is tight around the convention centre hosting events, with roads closed and a no-fly zone overhead.

No details of the president’s itinerary have been made public.

Hong Kong’s outgoing chief executive Carrie Lam is spending her last day in office under Covid quarantine, before she meets Mr Xi in person.

Like other officials, she is reported to have had to do this to attend a welcoming banquet for Mr Xi, says the BBC’s Martin Yip in Hong Kong.

Mrs Lam mentioned nothing about her immediate future plans in her final press meetings – but looking for a new home with space to store piles of cash is probably on her to-do list, our correspondent says. She is currently under US sanctions, which makes her unable to bank her salary, reported to be worth a few hundred thousand dollars per year.

Before the handover, China promised to protect democratic freedoms for 50 years in the special administrative region – but new laws introduced in 2020 have effectively silenced all criticism in the territory.

The government in Beijing can veto changes to the political system, and pro-democracy forces – who held organised mass protests in 2019-20 – have been frustrated by what they see as the slow pace of political reform.

Viewers in the UK can watch BBC Panorama’s Hong Kong: Life Under the Crackdown on BBC iPlayer.