Tight security in Tiananmen Square as country marks CCP centenary and China’s president warns against oppression by ‘foreign forces’
Our China affairs correspondent Vincent Ni has written about what today means for Xi and the CCP:
Related: ‘Making China great again’: pomp and propaganda as CCP marks centenary
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Hong Kong’s acting chief executive, John Lee, said the city has returned to order from chaos since China imposed a sweeping national security law on the global financial hub last yea., the city’s acting chief executive, John Lee, said on Thursday.
Beijing imposed the security law just before midnight on 30 June last year to punish anything China deems as subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison.
The security law was Beijing’s first major step to put the global financial hub onto an authoritarian path, kick-starting a campaign dubbed “patriots rule Hong Kong,” which included moves to reduce democratic representation in the city’s legislature and various screening mechanisms for politicians.
Lee was speaking for the first time as acting city leader at a flag-raising ceremony marking the 24th anniversary of the former British colony’s return to Chinese rule in 1997, which coincides with the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party.”