Chinese state leader to visit Hong Kong for first time since Beijing decision that triggered Occupy protests
Chairman of Standing Committee of NPC accepts chief executive’s invitation to summit on ‘One Belt, One Road’ trade strategy
The head of China’s parliament, Zhang Dejiang, will visit Hong Kong next month at the invitation of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to attend a summit on Beijing’s “One Belt, One Road” trade strategy.
The chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress will be the first state leader to come to Hong Kong since the nation’s top lawmaking body set the framework for the city’s political reform in August 2014, triggering the 79-day Occupy protests.
A person familiar with Zhang’s visit interpreted it as a show of support by the central government for Leung.
Zhang will deliver a keynote speech at the Belt and Road Summit, co-organised by the Hong Kong government, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, the People’s Bank of China and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on May 18.
Senior officials from these ministries will also attend.
Zhang’s visit “fully demonstrates that the central government values and strongly supports Hong Kong’s unique role in the [belt and road] initiative,” Leung said in a written statement.
