XI TURNING HONG KONG INTO MIRROR IMAGE OF THE MAINLAND
President Xi Jinping wanted the world to believe that Hong Kong has “risen from the ashes”, but what everybody saw on July 1 was a once thriving island stranded in time, in a vice-like grip of Chinese security and counter-terrorism forces, looking more and more like the monotonous Mainland.
Xi was in Hong Kong on July 1, to mark the 25th anniversary of the handover of the island by the UK. He tried to hard-sell a “patriotic and prosperous” Hong Kong to the foreign companies and the trading community, but there were hardly any takers.
The President tried to convince the businesses that he was ushering in a new era of “stability”, but everybody appeared to be gauging the political risks of trading in Hong Kong.
On the day Xi landed on the island, the security forces had turned it i