China's Xi visits Hong Kong, 1st trip outside mainland since pandemic

President Xi Jinping visited Hong Kong to attend a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of its transfer to Chinese rule, his first trip outside the mainland since the pandemic began in early 2020, state-run media reported Thursday.The anniversary is scheduled to be commemorated on Friday, with foreign affairs experts saying the former British colony's rights and freedoms, guaranteed as part of the 1997 handover, continue to diminish with Beijing tightening its grip on the semiautonomous Chinese city.Xi had not left mainland China since he traveled to Myanmar in January 2020 as Beijing ackn…READ FULL ARTICLE