Joint checkpoint plan for Hong Kong’s express rail link ‘cannot be challenged’ by city, Beijing official says
Basic Law Committee vice-chairman Zhang Rongshun dubs plan an ‘act of state’ that falls under the Basic Law’s Article 19 provisions
The decision to allow national laws to be enforced in part of Hong Kong’s cross-border express rail terminus was an “act of state” that cannot be challenged by local courts, a Beijing official said on Saturday.
Basic Law Committee vice-chairman Zhang Rongshun said the top legislative body’s endorsement of the joint checkpoint, or so-called “co-location” plan, in December was an act of state under the Basic Law’s Article 19, which stipulates that Hong Kong courts “shall have no jurisdiction over acts of state such as defence and foreign affairs”.
The comments from Zhang, who is also the vice-chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee’s Legislative Affairs Commission, marked the first time Beijing had cited the effect of the NPCSC decisions on Hong Kong under Article 19.
Pan-democrats and some legal experts, including members of the Bar Association, have slammed the co-location plan for lacking a legal basis under the Basic Law. The plan will see part of the West Kowloon terminus for the rail link to Guangzhou leased to the mainland and allows national laws to be enforced there.
Speaking at a Shenzen closed-door annual meeting of semi-official mainland think tank, The Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, Zhang hit out at critics for politicising the issue and creating misunderstandings towards the legal status of the arrangement.