HKSAR 20 YEARS | Xi Jinping in Hong Kong for anniversary as protests planned

Xi Jinping, accompanied by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (rear left) and chief executive-elect Carrie Lam (rear right)

Chinese President Xi Jinping landed in Hong Kong yesterday to mark the 20th anniversary of Beijing taking control of the former British colony, accompanied by a formidable layer of security as authorities showed little patience for pro-democracy protests.

After stepping off his Air China plane, Xi said he envisioned “stable development” of Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” framework. Pro-democracy activists fear Beijing is undermining the principle — agreed upon when Britain handed over the city back to China — which guarantees Hong Kong can mostly run its own affairs and keep civil liberties including free speech until 2047.

Xi’s three-day visit culminates tomorrow when he will oversee an inauguration ceremony for the Asian financial hub’s new leader, Carrie Lam.

Pro-democracy activists staged protests ahead of his visit and more were expected, including an annual march through the streets tomorrow that has drawn big crowds in the past. Hong Kong authorities were taking no chances with disruptions and deployed heavy security across the city.

Helicopters hovered overhead and police and barricades lined the streets around a downtown convention center and hotel complex where Xi was expected to spend most of his time. Officers questioned passers-by taking photos of the few protests allowed near the area. Authorities even glued the gaps between sidewalk paving stones in an effort to prevent them from being torn up and thrown by protesters.

Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong is detained by police officers after he climb up to a giant flower statue bequeathed by Beijing in 1997 in Golden Bauhinia Square Wednesday night

Three pro-democracy groups said 26 of their members were arrested Wednesday evening on public nuisance charges for staging a sit-in at a giant flower sculpture near the complex. They were still detained hours after Xi arrived. Police have the power to hold them up to 48 hours.

Those arrested included Joshua Wong, the young activist who helped lead 2014’s “Umbrella Movement” protests, and Nathan Law, another student protest leader who was elected to the legislature last year.

Xi is visiting to mark the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s
handover, when Britain ceded control of its colony to China at the stroke of midnight on June 30, 1997.

“It’s been nine years since I last set foot in this place. I’m thrilled,” Xi said on the airport tarmac. “Hong Kong has been tugging away at my heart,” he said, adding that the anniversary of Hong Kong’s “return to the motherland” on Saturday is “a big deal, a joyous occasion for the country and for Hong Kong.”

He said one of the purposes of his trip is to plan for Hong Kong’s future.

“We would like to look back at Hong Kong’s extraordinary journey over the past 20 years, to learn from our experience, and look forward to the future to ensure the stable development of ‘one country, two systems,’” he said in brief remarks before speeding off in a motorcade without answering questions.

Hong Kongers have grown concerned Beijing is backtracking on “one country, two systems” following a string of recent incidents, most notably the secret detention of five Hong Kong booksellers on the mainland.

Xi later visited the site of an arts hub under construction in West Kowloon district and was due to attend a banquet with government officials.

On Friday, he’s expected to inspect Chinese troops at a People’s Liberation Army base. China’s only aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, will pay its first Hong Kong port call to mark the PLA’s 20 year-presence in the city, the Defense Ministry said.

The ship, commissioned in 2012, and its battle group departed northern China on a training mission earlier this week and will likely pass through the Taiwan Strait along its voyage to Hong Kong.

Speaking at a monthly news briefing, ministry spokesman Col. Wu Qian said the ship would take part in “celebratory activities,” but gave no details. Media reports said the ship would arrive in Hong Kong on July 7 for a two-day visit. AP

Stocks rally for the president

Hong Kong stocks jumped the most in more than a week, in a rally coinciding with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the former British colony to mark the 20th anniversary of the city’s handover to the mainland, Nikkei agency reported.

The Hang Seng Index rallied 1.1 percent. More than half the gauge’s 282-point gain yesterday was added by HSBC Holdings, a heavyweight British bank that climbed 6.3 percent, the most since the depths of the global financial crisis, to HKD72.80. The gains followed the Federal Reserve’s signal Wednesday that U.S. lenders were healthy enough to use extra capital on share buybacks and dividend payouts.

Adding to the cheer, Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock to HKD84 from HKD70 in a report released late Wednesday, saying it expects “the narrative on HSBC to flip from prior concerns on the dividend to a debate on how to deploy excess capital.” Hang Seng Bank, a Hang Seng Index constituent that is majority owned by HSBC, advanced 2.8 percent, while Standard Chartered, also a London-headquartered lender as HSBC, added 4.4 percent.

President Xi arrived yesterday for the first time since he assumed power amid a tight security blanket enveloping parts of the city.

Yesterday’s rally took the Hang Seng Index’s advance so far in 2017 to 18 percent, ranking it among Asia’s best-performing equity benchmarks. Still, valuations that are “not too stretched” offer a layer of comfort, according to Victor Au, chief operating officer at Delta Asia Securities.

According to Nikkei, the Hang Seng Index currently trades at 13.7 times its earnings, compared with 14.6 times for the Shanghai Composite Index and a multiple of 21.6 for the S&P 500 Index.

The Shanghai gauge, meanwhile, added 0.5 percent yesterday, taking its increase this year to 2.7 percent. Mainland shares have underperformed Hong Kong this year amid concern over curbs imposed by policy makers to contain financial- and property-sector risks.

However, the People’s Bank of China will hold off on further tightening of its monetary policies, and could even loosen them slightly in coming months to prevent growth from slowing too sharply, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing policy advisers at the central bank.

“I’m quite sure that after July, or in the middle of the third quarter, they’ll try to reengineer strong growth,” Delta Asia’s Au said, quoted by Nikkei.