Chinese leader Xi Jinping on June 30 left mainland China for the first time in 29 months. His visit to Hong Kong marks the 25th anniversary of the former British colony’s handover to the Chinese Communist Party’s rule.
On Thursday afternoon, when Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, stepped off the high-speed train, they were greeted by school-aged children waving flags and flowers, chanting “Welcome, welcome! Warm welcome” in Mandarin.
“I’m very happy to be in Hong Kong,” Xi said in a brief speech at the Hong Kong West Kowloon train station.
“It’s been five years since I last visited, and in the past five years, I’ve been paying attention to and thinking about Hong Kong.”…