According to AFP, a new high-speed rail link between Hong Kong and mainland China was launched Sunday; a multi-billion-dollar project that critics say gives away part of the city's territory to an increasingly assertive Beijing.
Costing over $10 billion and taking more than eight years to build, the system aims to transport more than 80,000 passengers daily between the Asian financial center of 7 million people and the neighboring manufacturing hub of Guangdong province (Newyork Post).
Critics say the railway is a symbol of continuing Chinese assimilation of Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with guarantees of widespread autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland, including an independent legal system (Arab News).
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