Hong Kong’s uncomfortable silence on Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee

The Hong Kong government’s failure to publicly acknowledge the platinum jubilee of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth smacks of ignorance. Across the city are the vestiges of royal links, from building, street and place names to commemorative plaques. Globally, the monarch is praised for her dignity, poise and diplomacy. The connections run deep and we should be celebrating the legacy of one of the world’s most recognisable women, not pretending we don’t know her.

President Xi Jinping congratulated the British monarch on February 7 for having been on the throne for 70 years, an anniversary that fell on the previous day. While he used the occasion for political means, saying it was an opportunity “to deepen friendship and mutual trust, expand exchanges and cooperation and work together to promote international solidarity”, Xi also recognised that she had long cared about and supported close relations between the two countries.

In 1986, Queen Elizabeth became the first British monarch to visit China, a trip that was combined with her second visit to Hong Kong, a British colony until reverting to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.

But the Chinese leader’s wishes were four months early, the official celebration being set for June 2-5 to enable a four-day long weekend of revelry in better weather and to avoid coinciding with the event that enabled the then princess to become queen – the death of her father, George VI.