President Xi Jinping’s visit to Hong Kong for 20th anniversary of handover confirmed – details of his packed itinerary revealed

Visits to People’s Liberation Army garrison and high-profile infrastructure project, such as Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge or high speed rail link terminus, will be included on Chinese leader’s tour of city

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Xi Jinping is scheduled to attend a banquet hosted by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying at Government House in Central after he arrives in Hong Kong. Photo: AP

Published: 11:30am, 23 Jun 2017Updated: 12:51pm, 27 Jun 2017

It’s confirmed. Xi Jinping will visit Hong Kong for the first time since becoming president in 2013 to join the 20th anniversary marking the handover and has a packed itinerary that includes touring the People’s Liberation Army garrison and a high-profile infrastructure project, the Post has learned.

Sources with knowledge of his three-day trip told the Post that his tight schedule would mean little to no time to visit a local family or neighbourhood as his predecessors did in the past.

But wife and first lady Peng Liyuan, who will accompany the president during his tour from Thursday to Saturday next week, will meet residents of an elderly home on Friday.

Xi’s itinerary will include a visit to one of the city’s major infrastructure projects such as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge. Photo: Xinhua

Shortly after his visit, China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, will sail into Hong Kong next month also as part of the handover celebrations. The date of its arrival has not been finalised but it would mark the first time it will be opened to the public. The vessel was built using the hull of an unfinished Soviet carrier, the Varyag, which China acquired in 2002. The carrier was commissioned in 2012.

Xi is expected to inspect one of the two controversial infrastructure projects under construction – either the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge or the high speed rail link to Guangzhou.

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