Is Beijing envoy’s personal travelogue a veiled boost for joint checkpoints at Hong Kong-mainland China link?
Liaison office deputy director extols virtues of national express network, and writes of pleasure that local government is laying the groundwork for operations at new – and controversial – 26km line
A Beijing envoy to Hong Kong has penned a story recounting a day out riding China’s high-speed rails on a one-day, cross-province trip, in an apparent bid to back a controversial push for joint border checkpoints at the local terminal of the city’s own express line.
Yang Jian, a deputy director at the central government liaison office – the Beijing government’s representatives in the city – posted the article extolling the virtues of high-speed trains on the office’s official website.
It was about a day trip from Guangzhou, Guangdong province, to Nanchang, Jiangxi province, on a Saturday early last year. The two cities are nearly 700km apart.
Yang wrote that a friend had recommended he take the high-speed train to Nanchang, to visit another friend in hospital.
And when he made the trip, the story went on, Yang was surprised to find that even after visiting the friend he had time to go for dinner with relatives and see the sights, and still get back to Guangzhou late that evening.
Yang wrote that the train was so fast it felt like it could “rocket to the sky at the push of a button”.