There was something surreal about the scene, like an old movie set against cardboard. It was 3:15 p.m. in Hong Kong, 9:15 a.m. in Paris, Thursday, June 30, when Xi Jinping arrived by train at the city’s new station, greeted by somewhat outdated cheers. The station had been completely emptied before his arrival: the only people present in the huge deserted halls were hand-picked officials, a few hundred children and young people brandishing red flags and dancers dressed as dragons or lions.
So many people, including children, placed in the hotel in strict quarantine for a week, to avoid any contamination. Hong Kong has been badly affected by the Omicron variant and still has 2,000 cases per day. After removing his FFP2 mask, XI Jinping, whose first trip outside mainland China for two years, then climbed alone on a platform, at the back of one of the station halls, all at a a good twenty meters from the television cameras. The time to deliver a first speech where he salutes Hong Kong’s ability to “reborn from the ashes”.
Security measures are drastic in the city during this visit. Health security: the obsession with Zero Covid remains the mantra of Chinese power. And security period: several districts of the city of 8 million inhabitants have been closed. The same goes for several public sites that Xi Jinping must visit, sites whose employees are invited to work remotely. Nine people have been arrested in recent days, accredited journalists are handpicked.
The pro-democracy movements gave up any demonstration on Friday, when it is a tradition on July 1, on the occasion of the anniversary of the retrocession. Huge barricades have anyway been erected by the police at the main intersections. Hong Kong’s largest polling institute has postponed the publication of the results of a survey on the popularity of the city government. Too risky. And of course, the city was decorated with red flags and large banners displaying the number “25”. Twenty-five, like the number of years since the departure of the British in 1997.
In fact, officially, we are halfway through the handover process, and it was to celebrate this milestone that Xi Jinping made the trip. The process is supposed to last 50 years, until 2047, 50 years during which Hong Kong is supposed to benefit from a specific regime of freedom, this is the principle “one country, two systems”. “A principle full of vitality, which guarantees the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong”according to the formula used on his arrival by the Chinese president.
In reality, since the repression of pro-democracy movements three years ago, and even more so since the adoption of the “national security law” two years ago, there is already only one system, that of Beijing. Freedoms are stifled. And tomorrow, for the 25th anniversary ceremony, the Chinese president will dub the new governor of the city, John Lee, a policeman whose main feat of arms is to have precisely repressed the demonstrators. Chinese order reigns in Hong Kong.