Xi Jinping is making his first visit to Hong Kong as president of China, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 1997 handover from Britain to China. The central government will insist on fireworks, but the world should know the darkening threats to freedom, the rule of law and free markets in Hong Kong.

AT FIRST, hardly anyone noticed the significant shift in people’s rights and freedoms addressed in the new charter draft when the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) was busy drafting it over the past four months.