China's Xi to attend ceremony on 25th anniv. of Hong Kong handover

President Xi Jinping will attend a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's transfer from British to Chinese rule, official news agency Xinhua said Saturday.The anniversary will be commemorated on Friday as Hong Kong's rights and freedoms, guaranteed at the 1997 handover, continue to diminish with Beijing tightening its grip on the semiautonomous Chinese city.Xi has not left mainland China since he traveled to Myanmar in January 2020 and Beijing acknowledged the rapid spread of the coronavirus.The news agency said the Chinese president will also take part in an event on Friday f…READ FULL ARTICLE