China’s President Xi arrives in Macau for three-day visit

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Macau for a three-day visit.

The president is in Macao to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Macao SAR and to inaugurate the new administration of incoming CE Sam Hou Fai

The president and his wife, Peng Liyuan, were welcomed by a large crowd of schoolchildren holding flowers and flags, and were greeted by outgoing chief executive (CE) Ho Iat Seng and his wife, Cheng Soo Ching, incoming CE Sam Hou Fai, the SAR’s first CE Edmund Ho, and other senior officials representing the SAR and central government.

The president delivered some brief remarks from the tarmac, noting that he was always happy to visit Macao.

Xi praised the effectiveness of the One Country, Two Systems policy and described Macao as the “pearl on [China’s] palm.”

He said that in the coming days he would be interacting with different sectors of Macao society.

Xi’s schedule is being kept tightly under wraps, although local news outlets report that he is expected to attend an evening gala and performance at the Macau East Asian Games Dome tomorrow evening.

On Friday, which marks the anniversary of Macao’s handover to China, President Xi is expected to preside over the inauguration of Macao’s newly elected chief executive, Sam Hou Fai, as well as the senior members of his cabinet.

In keeping with previous anniversaries, a flag raising ceremony is also expected to take place in the morning at Lotus Square.

His current visit to Macau will be his third as president and eighth as an official.

When he was Fujian’s governor, the leader paid his first official visit to the city in 2000.

Subsequent visits occurred in 2001 and 2005, when he was the secretary of the Communist Party Committee of Zhejiang. In 2009, he returned to the city as the nation’s vice president.

Xi’s prior trips as president took place in 2014 and 2019.