Academic says promenade site need not go to PLA

A 1994 Sino-British deal suggests only that a military berth that splits the newly reclaimed Central harbourfront should be used by - not handed over to - the People's Liberation Army, a legal scholar says.

The view of Eric Cheung Tat-ming, an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong, runs counter to that of the government, which says the berth is a military site that must be handed over to the PLA.

His remark yesterday came as the government and harbour protection activists remained in a dispute over public access to the berth.

"If you look at the construction of the agreement and the use of words, it is quite clear to me that the berth is not among the batch of 'military sites' to be handed over, but rather, it is just a 'facility' to be re-provisioned for and used by the army," Cheung said.

"The government need not hand over the berth to the PLA. Public use of the land comes first, and the occasional military vessels' use comes second."

He said that when the PLA was not using the berth, the government should have the right to manage it.

The activists do not object to the provision of the 3,000 square metre berth.