City Beat | Next chief executive will face challenge of striking rendition deal with mainland China

Recent cross-border law enforcement cases and mysterious disappearances of individuals are reminders that issue is a political time bomb to be defused

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The city of Shenzhen, as seen from the Hong Kong side, where a green belts lies between the two territories. Photo: EPA/Jerome Favre

Published: 4:45pm, 5 Feb 2017Updated: 8:55pm, 5 Feb 2017

Like it or not, it seems the mysterious disappearance of mainland tycoon Xiao Jianhua has not yet stirred up a political storm on the scale of the Causeway Bay booksellers saga, although his case, by nature, can be more complicated. This is quite telling.

No doubt, there are many who can’t help but worry whether this is another booksellers type of case where mainland law enforcement agents were suspected to have operated in Hong Kong – something which is not allowed by the city’s Basic Law. But statements by Hong Kong police as well as various sources the Post has talked to, both in the city and on the mainland, suggested otherwise.

Xiao went back to the mainland – via normal border crossing procedures – as a result of his long-time “negotiations” with authorities there who need his assistance to investigate the alleged manipulation leading to the 2015 stock market crash, as well as his business links with relatives of some state leaders.

In the booksellers case, there was no record of border crossing when Lee Po, an associate of the publishing house behind many books banned on the mainland, vanished in late 2015. His disappearance, along with that of four others linked to the publisher, triggered public fears that they had been “kidnapped”. But Lee later insisted that he had gone back to the mainland voluntarily, by his “own means”.

Still, the worries of Hongkongers won’t go away easily, given the lack of official information on Xiao’s case. Considering his special background as one of China’s richest men with extensive business and political networks on the mainland, the whole matter is more than a mystery.

As the city’s leadership race enters a critical stage, this serves as a timely reminder to all chief executive contenders about the complexity of Hong Kong’s top job.

Of all four contestants grilled by the media for their views on the latest controversy, former security chief Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee has given perhaps the most concrete reply. She pointed out the need for an extradition agreement with the mainland.