The event is tentatively scheduled for Thursday and Xi could arrive as early as Tuesday.

“Xi will emphasise China’s commitment to continuing its opening to the US and the rest of the world,” a mainland China source based in Shenzhen said. “This is the best moment to clear the clouds before the party plenum.”

Ahead of his visit, the State Council released a document on pilot reforms in Shenzhen covering the next five years. The central government would push cooperation between the city and Hong Kong to a “higher level” and strengthen the role of the special economic zone as the “core engine” in the Greater Bay Area, Xinhua reported the document as saying on Sunday.

Xi’s trip to the southern economic powerhouse comes ahead of the fifth plenum of the 19th party congress on October 26 in the capital. Hundreds of Communist Party elite will endorse the blueprint for China’s direction for 2021 to 2025 at a time when the country is confronted by growing hostilities abroad and economic uncertainty at home.

Major trading partners, notably the United States, are hardening their attitude towards the nation over issues ranging from trade and technology to ideology, while the pandemic has forced Beijing to drop its annual economic growth target. The plan will also spell out the roles played by Hong Kong and Macau in the country’s economic development.

Lam’s schedule is packed for the week, with the chief executive to deliver her fourth policy address on Wednesday and attend a question and answer session at the Legislative Council the next day.

The Chief Executive’s Office did not respond to the Post’s request for comment before publication.

Shenzhen was designated a special economic zone on August 26, 1980, as part of late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping’s efforts to open up the country to the world, just two years after the tumultuous Cultural Revolution came to a close. On Xi’s previous visit to the city in October 2018, he stressed that reforms would continue.

Professor Lau Siu-kai, vice-chairman of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, a semi-official think tank based in Beijing, said Lam was expected to join Xi in celebrating the anniversary.

“Xi may urge her to pay more attention to Hong Kong’s deep-seated economic and livelihood problems after the national security law restored public order in the city,” he said.

Lau predicted the president would demonstrate Beijing’s intention to stand firm against Western pressure.

Shenzhen to reprise role as vanguard of financial reforms

“With a hostile Western camp, China will need to rely more and more on its innovation and technology … and push forward a China-oriented strategy of globalisation,” he said.

Xi had used such events before to comment indirectly on the financial hub’s affairs, noted Hui Ching, a research director at the Hong Kong Zhi Ming Institute think tank.

“There have been occasions in which Xi was seen as taking the opportunity of officiating at a big ceremony to lecture Hong Kong indirectly,” Hui said.

Professor Linda Li Che-lan, a political scientist at City University, expected Xi would vow to continue with reform and opening up but would not seek “global hegemony”.

“He will probably touch on Hong Kong affairs and reiterate that China will adhere strictly to the ‘one country, two systems’ policy despite the imposition of the national security law,” Li said, referring to the principle that guarantees the city a high degree of autonomy from the mainland.

Additional reporting by William Zheng, Ng Kang-chung and Tony Cheung