Hong Kong pushes for expansion of communication system with China as police offer protection to returned bookseller
Two sides agree to inform each other of criminal detention within 14-day period, but Hong Kong wants system to cover all mainland law enforcement bodies
Hong Kong is pressing Beijing to expand the cross-border communication system for criminal investigations to cover all mainland law enforcement agencies following the bookseller controversy.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying reported progress on Wednesday.
But he listed further goals as the justice and security ministers returned home from talks on the notification mechanism, prompted by concerns that it had failed to keep Hong Kong informed when Lam Wing-kee and four of his publishing associates were held for months on the mainland.
Leung said Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun had agreed that the 15-year-old mechanism “should be improved in view of changed circumstances and people’s expectations”.
He said a key achievement in the first round of talks on Tuesday was that both sides agreed to inform each other within 14 days if they detained the other’s residents for criminal investigation.