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A30 world news
Dialuna 27 Juni 2022

Xi taking part in Hong Kong anniversary but no word on visit

(AP) — President Xi Jin- territory of Macao also re-
ping will participate in turned to China in 1999, al-
next week's celebrations lowing the ruling party to say
of the 25th anniversary of it had ended foreign colonial-
the return of Hong Kong ism.
to China, the government Since the Hong Kong han-
said Saturday, but it left dover, ordinary people in the
unclear whether he will territory have struggled with
visit the former British soaring living costs that in-
colony for the highly sym- flamed political tension.
bolic event after a crack-
down on a pro-democracy Beijing imposed the sweep-
movement. ing national security leg-
islation in 2020 following
Xi, who also is general secre- protests that erupted over a
tary of the ruling Commu- proposed extradition law and
nist Party, will attend a meet- spread to include demands
ing for the anniversary and for more democracy. The ter-
the inauguration of Hong ritory has banned commem-
Kong's government led by orations of the ruling party's
newly appointed Chief Ex- violent 1989 crackdown on
ecutive John Lee, the official Beijing's Tiananmen Square
Xinhua News Agency said. pro-democracy movement.
The announcement gave no
other details. Those sentenced to prison
to break with tradition and least the 1980s and wants to The tighter controls under a include Jimmy Lai, former
The anniversary is one of award himself a third five- be seen as leading a "national national security law imposed publisher of the defunct pro-
the highest-profile political year term as party leader. He rejuvenation" amid a military in 2020 have prompted some democracy newspaper Apple
events in a year when Xi is already is the most power- buildup and more assertive people to leave for Taiwan, Daily. Hong Kong's 90-year-
widely believed to be trying ful Chinese leader since at policy abroad. Britain and other countries. old former Roman Catho-
That has led to concerns the lic bishop, Joseph Zen, was
Xi hasn't made a trip outside ruling party is ruining Hong among those arrested.
the Chinese mainland since Kong's status as a global busi-
the start of the coronavirus ness and financial center. The crackdown adds to ten-
pandemic 2 1/2 years ago. sion between Beijing and the
Hong Kong faces a renewed Hong Kong, one of Asia's United States, Europe, Japan
rise in infections after a flood richest cities and a global and other Asian governments
of cases earlier this year business center with thriving over human rights, Taiwan
threatened to overwhelm its film, publishing and other and conflicts with its neigh-
hospitals. creative industries, returned bors over Chinese territorial
to China on July 1, 1997, un- claims in the South China
Lee and his predecessor, Car- der an agreement that prom- and East China seas.
rie Lam, both issued state- ised a "high degree of auton- Hong Kong's final British
ments thanking Xi for par- omy" for 50 years. colonial governor, Chris Pat-
ticipating in anniversary cel- ten, expressed heartbreak this
ebrations but didn't clarify Activists and foreign gov- month over the crackdown.
whether he would visit Hong ernments say Beijing has re-
Kong. neged on that. The United "I thought there was a pros-
The anniversary follows a States suspended agreements pect that (China) would keep
crackdown led in part by Lee, that treated Hong Kong as a its word, and I'm sorry that
a former Hong Kong secu- separate territory for trade, it hasn't," Patten told The
rity chief. Activists have been saying the city no longer had Associated Press on June 20
sentenced to prison, scores enough autonomy from Bei- in London. "I just find it in-
of others arrested and Hong jing. tensely difficult. I do believe
Kong's most prominent pro- that Hong Kong is a great
democracy newspaper shut Two years after Hong Kong, city, I hope it will be a great
down. the neighboring Portuguese city again."

Italian nun slain in Haiti is hailed by pope as martyr

(AP) — Pope Francis on Francis said.
Sunday hailed as a martyr Francis in remarks to the Dell'Orto "gave her life to
an Italian missionary nun public in St. Peter's Square others, until the point of
slain in Haiti, where she expressed his closeness to martyrdom,'' the pontiff said.
cared for poor children. the nun's family members
and noted she had lived there The nun, who was born in
The diocese of Milan says for some 20 years, dedicating Lombardy, northern Italy,
Sister Luisa Dell'Orto, 64, herself above all to helping had run a home for children
was slain "during an armed poor children who lived on in a very poor suburb of Port-
aggression, probably with the the street. au-Prince, the Milan diocese
aim of robbery," in Port-au- said.
Prince, the Haitian capital. "I entrust her soul to God,
The Vatican's official me- and I pray for the Haitian Haiti, a Caribbean country,
dia said Dell'Orto, gravely people, especially the little is the poorest nation in the
wounded, was taken to a hos- ones, so they can have a more Western Hemisphere.
pital, where she died soon serene future, without mis-
after. ery and without violence, "