President Xi Renews Commitment to Hong Kong

Date: 30 September 2019 - 22:06

News ID: ۷۱۱۳۰

BEIJING (Dispatches) — Chinese Communist Party leader and President Xi Jinping on Monday renewed his government’s commitment to allowing Hong Kong to manage its own affairs amid continuing protests in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
Xi made his remarks at a reception on the eve of a massive celebration of the People’s Republic’s 70th anniversary that threatens to be marred by foreign-instigated riots in Hong Kong.
Demonstrators and police clashed for a second straight day on Sunday in Hong Kong, sparking further chaos in the city’s business and shopping belt and drawing fears of more ugly scenes during the weeklong National Day holiday.
"We will continue to fully and faithfully implement the principles of ‘One country, two systems’ (and) ’Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong,? Xi said according to a printed copy of his remarks.
China’s approach is to ensure that Hong Kong and its fellow semi-autonomous region of Macao "prosper and progress alongside the mainland and embrace an even brighter future,” Xi said.
Earlier Monday, Xi led other top officials in paying respects to the founder of the Communist state, Mao Zedong, ahead of the massive celebrations emphasizing China’s rise to global prominence.
Along with other top party officials, more than 4,000 Chinese, including elderly military veterans and retired senior officials, "relatives of martyrs, honorees of national medals and honorary titles,” and members of the party’s youth organization visited the monument to lay flowers and wreaths.
The nationwide celebrations seek to highlight China’s enormous transformation from an impoverished state ravaged by Japan’s World War II invasion and a following civil war into the world’s second-largest economy. China now sits on the cutting edge of breakthrough technologies such as artificial intelligence and 5G communications and its growing military and diplomatic clout increasingly challenges U.S. leadership.
On Tuesday, Xi is expected to preside from atop iconic Tiananmen Gate over a parade that will display China’s rapidly developing arsenal, possibly including the nuclear-capable Dongfeng 41 missile that could reach the United States in 30 minutes. Plans call for 15,000 troops, more than 160 aircraft and 580 pieces of military equipment to take part in the event.
The display of military prowess is seen as a way to underscore Beijing’s ambition to enforce claims to self-governing Taiwan, virtually the entire South China Sea and territory held by Japan.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Xi hailed China’s development achievements over the last seven decades, especially its success in largely wiping out absolute poverty. He attributed those successes to the party’s leadership and called for absolute unity around the 90 million-member body to write a "more brilliant chapter” toward realizing the "Chinese Dream.”
Xi also touched on the issue of Taiwan, which China has vowed to annex by force if necessary.
Taiwan’s incorporation into China is "an inevitable trend” and "no one and no force can ever stop it,” Xi said.