Mainland officials to enforce Chinese laws in HK train station

HONG KONG — Hong Kong announced yesterday a controversial plan to allow mainland officials to enforce Chinese laws inside a Hong Kong train station, an immigration set-up critics say will encroach on the city’s autonomy and put existing freedoms in danger.

Hong Kong’s Basic Law mini-Constitution states that, with a few exceptions, Chinese national laws are not applicable in the city and no Chinese departments can interfere in its affairs.

The Mainland Port Areas where the train station will be located will be legally regarded as outside the territorial boundary of Hong Kong, so Basic Law articles do not apply, said the Hong Kong government.

A former British colony, Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 and enjoys wide-ranging freedoms not granted in mainland China and an independent judiciary under a so-called “one country, two systems” formula.

But the abduction by mainland agents of Hong Kong booksellers in 2015 who had published critical books on China, and Beijing’s efforts to disqualify democratically elected, opposition lawmakers in the local legislature, have rattled confidence in that arrangement.

About a quarter of the planned train station for high-speed trains that connect Hong Kong to the mainland will fall under mainland Chinese jurisdiction, said the government.

These areas include two immigration halls at the West Kowloon station where Chinese officials will clear passengers’ departure to and arrival from China, platform areas and even inside the train before it leaves Hong Kong.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam, in her first month in office, said the arrangement will not violate the city’s Basic Law.

“We have found a solution ... which will be in full compliance with the principle of ‘one country, two systems’ and provisions in the Basic Law, so there is no question of that sort of concern and worry that we are compromising on the rule of law, on ‘one country, two systems’, in order to get the convenience of the high-speed rail,” Ms Lam said.

The plan was approved by Ms Lam’s top advisory body, the Executive Council. Ms Lam called on Hongkongers to view the matter in an objective and pragmatic way, saying the new administration would work hard to win over the public.

Pro-Beijing lawmaker Priscilla Leung said such joint immigration areas were common around the world and that Hong Kong would be “leasing” the portion of land at the terminus to China. “Outside the zone, both the officers and everyone else have to obey the laws in Hong Kong,” she said.

Hong Kong’s legal chief Rimsky Yuen denied the government was effectively ceding land, saying the local government had proposed the idea to maximise the railway’s potential.

“The implementation of co-location arrangement is neither a directive nor an order by the Central People’s Government,” Mr Yuen said, adding that it would need the consent of both governments.

But opponents say the new plan is a clear breach of the Basic Law and another sign that Hong Kong is being swallowed up by China.

Veteran lawyer and democracy advocate Martin Lee, who helped draft the Basic Law in the 1980s, said creating an exception within Hong Kong where mainland Chinese laws are enforced would set a “dangerous precedent”.

It would put at risk the semi-autonomous “one country, two systems” set-up guaranteed when Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, Mr Lee said.

The government is expected to formally reach a cooperation arrangement with Beijing, which will be approved by China’s top parliamentary body. A relevant Bill is expected to go to the city’s legislature at a later stage.

Hong Kong now has direct train services to Beijing, Shanghai and several cities in southern Guangdong province. Passengers go through immigration on arrival at Chinese terminals.

Since 2007, a similar arrangement has operated at the border where Hong Kong jurisdiction overlaps with areas of the Shenzhen Bay Port on the mainland. The government has yet to hammer out all the details of the arrangement.

Asked if passengers could access Facebook, which is blocked in China, while they wait for trains in the Hong Kong station, Mr Yuen said he did not know. “I think it’s a very good question. I would like to find out the answer later myself.” AGENCIES