蜜芽传媒

Today marks 25 years since the city of Hong Kong was handed back by the British to China. The deal enshrined what is known as 'one country, two systems', under which the territory was supposed to keep democratic freedoms that were denied to the rest of China.

As part of the anniversary celebrations, President Xi Jinping is visiting the city in what is his first trip outside mainland China since the Coronavirus pandemic broke out in January 2020. He attended the swearing in ceremony of Hong Kong's new leader, John Lee, who praised China's unity.

However, in the last few years there has been a crackdown on pro-democracy movements, spearheaded by a national security law which makes public dissent all but impossible.

Ted Hui is a former Hong Kong legislator, who is now in exile in Adelaide Australia.

He told Newsday, "It's a heavy day to remember, now that we lost all of our freedoms, and there's a home in Hong Kong I cannot go back to, and there are more than 1000 political dissidents now in prisons. So how can I be happy and celebrate about all this?"

(Photo by PETER PARKS/AFP via Getty Images)

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