Respect decisions by China’s top legislative body just as we did British authorities, Hong Kong minister urges
Transport secretary Frank Chan Fan defends contentious plans for joint rail checkpoint with mainland China, saying endorsement by National People’s Congress Standing Committee should be adhered to
Hong Kong’s transport minister was on Monday criticised for comparing China’s top legislative body with Britain’s Privy Council during a grilling in the city’s legislature over plans for a controversial cross-border rail link to the mainland.
Secretary for Transport and Housing Frank Chan Fan was also slammed by lawmakers for suggesting a Legislative Council bills committee scrutinising the plans should finish its work in just two and a half months.
The committee on Monday kicked off discussion of a bill for a contentious joint checkpoint for the high-speed rail line. The immigration and customs facility is to be based at West Kowloon in Hong Kong but shared between local and mainland Chinese authorities.
Chan said an endorsement given in December for the checkpoint from China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee should be respected, just as decisions by the Privy Council were back in colonial times.
The express rail link to Guangzhou is scheduled to begin operating in the third quarter of this year. However, opposition pan-democrat lawmakers and legal professionals in Hong Kong have blasted the arrangement, saying it diminishes the city’s autonomy by having mainland Chinese officers operate on Hong Kong soil.