Joint checkpoint decision in Hong Kong an ‘act of state’, leading Beijing adviser says

Head of semi-official think tank cites clause in Hong Kong’s mini-constitution

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Professor Lau Siu-kai Lau is vice-chairman of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 8:32am, 3 Jan 2018Updated: 2:38pm, 3 Jan 2018

Decisions by China’s top legislative body are tantamount to “acts of state” that Hong Kong courts have no jurisdiction over, a leading mainland adviser declared on Tuesday amid a rapidly escalating row over the legality of a joint checkpoint plan for a cross-border rail link that will see national laws enforced in part of the city.

Lau Siu-kai, who heads a semi-official think tank on Hong Kong affairs, cited a specific clause in the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, to support his argument.

Make sure joint-checkpoint plan is a ‘one-off’, says Hong Kong Bar Association chairman

It came after some pro-Beijing legal heavyweights conceded that the endorsement of the so-called co-location arrangement by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) would have no direct binding power over local courts, should opponents challenge its constitutional justification.

The NPCSC last week set off a storm in the city by formally approving the plan to allow mainland immigration and customs officers to enforce national laws over a zone leased to them at the West Kowloon station of the high-speed rail link to the mainland cities Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

Opposition politicians and prominent legal professionals are demanding the government explain how the co-location plan does not breach Article 18 of the Basic Law, which states that no national laws can be enforced in Hong Kong unless they are annexed in the mini-constitution.

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