Many ways to leave Hong Kong without passing through border control, says former security chief Regina Ip
New People’s Party chairwoman says closeness to mainland China makes it easy to ‘get away’ by boat, after police find no record of missing bookstore owner leaving the city
Hong Kong permanent residents can enter and exit the city freely without going through the city’s control points as this is not an offence under the city’s law, former secretary for security Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee said.
Ip, who is chairwoman of the New People’s Party, said there are many ways to enter the mainland without going through the proper immigration channels.
“There are many ways of doing that. I must stress that any permanent residents with the right of abode in Hong Kong can enter and exit without documents, without going through our control points. They don’t commit an offence that way,” Ip told RTHK.
READ MORE: Missing Hong Kong bookseller Lee Bo ‘doesn’t do evil things’, friends insist
“Look at how many fishermen and rich people sail away during weekends without going through our customs. We don’t charge any of them. I think given Hong Kong’s closeness to the mainland, people could get away easily by getting on a boat.”
Ip’s remarks were made in the context of information from a source who told the Post earlier that the police had found no record of Lee Bo, the bookseller who went missing last week, leaving the city.
Lee runs Causeway Bay Books, a store which specialises in books critical of the Chinese Communist Party. His disappearance prompted speculation that he was abducted by mainland law enforcement agents.
Four of Lee’s associates have also vanished since October.