Xi Jinping leaves mainland China for the first time since the beginning of pandemic
CNN
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has left mainland China for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, arriving in Hong Kong Thursday ahead of the 25th anniversary of the city's handover from British to Chinese rule.
Xi is expected to spend two days in the financial hub and attend a series of official events to mark both the July 1 handover and the inauguration ceremony of the city's next Beijing appointed leader John Lee, a former police officer and security chief.
Xi's arrival coincides with forecasts of a typhoon bringing heavy winds and rain, and comes after weeks of uncertainty as to whether he would risk leaving mainland China's stringent zero-Covid bubble, to travel to a city now reporting more than 1,000 new Covid cases a day.
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