President Xi Jinping will attend a meeting celebrating the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland to be commemorated on July 1, Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday.
“Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, will also attend the inaugural ceremony of the sixth-term government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,” it added.
The trip would mark his first time leaving the Chinese mainland since the pandemic began.
Xi last visited the former British colony in 2017 to swear in city leader Carrie Lam and it is customary for Chinese leaders to travel to the city for key handover anniversary dates.
But coronavirus outbreaks in both mainland China and Hong Kong have prompted questions on whether Xi would risk travelling to the city as Beijing remains committed to a dynamic zero-Covid strategy.
