Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Hong Kong to mark 25 years since the former British colony returned to Beijing rule. This is his first visit outside mainland China since the start of the pandemic nearly two and a half years ago.
Mr Xi was travelling by high-speed train and was greeted by students waving flags of China and Hong Kong. Security is tight around convention centre events, roads are closed, and a no-fly zone is overhead.
No details of the President’s itinerary have been made public.
Before the handover, China had promised to protect democratic freedoms in the particular administrative region for 50 years – but new laws introduced in 2020 have effectively silenced all criticism in the area.
In Beijing, the government can veto changes to the political system, and pro-democracy forces – which staged mass protests in 2019-20, are disappointed in what they see as the slow pace of political reform.