President Xi Jinping visit to Macau confirmed as security chief issues stern warning against illegal activities threatening China’s security
- Chinese leader’s visit to celebrate 20th anniversary of former colony’s reunification
- Security services meanwhile are focused on anniversaries of Tiananmen Square and Falun Gong crackdowns
Guangdong’s security chief has revealed President Xi Jinping will visit Macau later this year for the 20th anniversary of the city’s reunification with China, even as provincial authorities rolled out eight operation plans to strike “illegal activities” threatening the nation’s political security.
Li Chunsheng, head of the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department, also disclosed that a communication centre for police forces in the “Greater Bay Area” would be set up on the islet of Qiao in Zhuhai by October, which would handle the security details and operational command for Xi’s trip.
Speaking at a meeting in Guangzhou, where dozens of officials from the city of Maoming discussed the annual report delivered by the provincial governor Ma Xingrui, Li gave a stern warning on a series of threats to China’s political security in 2019. He indirectly cited a number of anniversaries, including that of the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.
“In October, a Greater Bay Area police communication centre will be set up in Zhuhai,” Li said. “[Xi] will come and join the celebrations for the 20th anniversary in Macau, where he will deliver an important speech.”
Macau, a former Portuguese colony, returned to Chinese administration in December 1999.
