Chinese President Xi Jinping expected to begin 2-day trip to Hong Kong on Thursday ‘but will not stay in the city overnight’

Thousands of police officers will be deployed to place an unprecedented security blanket around the West Kowloon high-speed railway terminus, where Xi and a delegation of mainland Chinese officials are expected to arrive from Shenzhen by train on Thursday afternoon.

State news agency Xinhua on Monday published an article that summarised Xi’s major instructions to Hong Kong since becoming president and described the care he had for the city as far back as 2008, when he was vice-president, as well as saying he would attend the handover celebrations.

Government sources said the president would attend a banquet hosted by outgoing Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor at her official residence, Government House in Central, on Thursday and meet both the incumbent and incoming administrations.

One insider said Xi would not stay overnight, returning to Shenzhen by high-speed train on Thursday evening.

Xi is then expected to return to Hong Kong by high-speed train on Friday morning. He will officiate at a ceremony to mark the handover anniversary and oversee the swearing-in of incoming chief executive John Lee Ka-chiu and his cabinet at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.

The source said Xi would return to Shenzhen by high-speed train around midday on Friday. But he said the president’s itinerary could be subject to a last-minute change or cancellation due to various factors, such as the coronavirus situation in Hong Kong, where case numbers had risen over the past two weeks.