bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

THE working panel for the post-1997 government is ready to give its views on the financial arrangements for the Chek Lap Kok airport and its associated rail link.

  Nellie Fong Kut-man, convenor of an economic sub-group under the working panel for the Special Administrative Region Preparatory Committee, said the group would study the financial arrangements for the new airport and its associated rail link in its first meeting in September.

  Mrs Fong said the economy sub-group would definitely offer its view on the financial package, noting that China was concerned about spiralling construction costs for the new airport projects as the Hongkong Government had declined to set a ceiling.

  Even if a Sino-British agreement was reached by September, the sub-group would submit its opinions on monitoring the construction costs of the new airport projects, she said.

  The working panel would then make itself a solely pro-Beijing body to be consulted on airport financing matters after the Airport Consultative Committee (ACC), which is composed of members agreed by both China and Britain.

  Among the 25 members sitting on the sub-group, Vincent Lo Hong-sui is a director of the Provisional Airport Authority and Wong Po-yan is chairman of the ACC.

  Although one of the functions of the working panel was to study matters straddling 1997, Mrs Fong said it did not overlap with the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group (JLG).

  Meanwhile, Executive and Legislative Councillors yesterday warned against the setting up of a liaison office in Hongkong to ease the way for the post-1997 government, saying it would only overlap with the JLG and could undermine confidence in the territory.

   The reaction followed an announcement by China's top official in charge of Hongkong affairs, Lu Ping, that a telephone hotline and liaison office would be set up in the territory to receive public opinion.

   Executive Councillor Rosanna Wong Yick-ming said the office should not be a second power centre.

  ''I hope it will not give a wrong impression to the public that it is a power centre, as [Chinese officials] said [the committee] was not a power centre,'' she said.

  Allen Lee Peng-fei, chairman of the Liberal Party, welcomed the idea of a liaison office in Hongkong, but he hoped it would be open in its dealings with the public.

  He said the functions of the panel would largely hinge on Sino-British relations.

  ''If the Sino-British talks [on the 1994/95 electoral arrangements] are successful, the body will remain low-profile. Otherwise, it will assume a prominent role,'' he said.

  But Szeto Wah, of the United Democrats of Hongkong, strongly dismissed the idea of a liaison office.

    ''It is pointless to set up whatever office, as [the Chinese officials] would only listen to some people's opinions but not the majority's view,'' he said.

  His colleague, Martin Lee Chu-ming, strongly criticised the working panel as being even more powerful than the Preparatory Committee.

  The former Basic Law drafter said it was thought the Preparatory Committee would be responsible only for organising a ceremony on July 1, 1997, to mark the transfer of power.

        Noting that the working panel would scrutinise Hongkong laws to see whether they were in line with the Basic Law, Mr Lee said such duties would overlap with the work of the JLG.



Why US allies in Europe and Asia are ‘de-risking’ from Trump

Philippine Navy modernises with 2 new warships, but experts warn of strategic trade-offs

Philippines dismisses ‘absurd’ Chinese online claims about Palawan

Philippine ambassador warns defence treaty with US may not be ironclad

South China Sea

SAR panel to tackle financing