Hong Kong close to final deal with Beijing on detention notification system: sources
Moves to improve the reciprocal detention notification mechanism began after five Hong Kong booksellers went missing from October 2015
Hong Kong is expected to get Beijing’s agreement this week on faster notification when its residents are detained, sources said, as Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu headed to Beijing on Wednesday to meet the mainland’s Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi.
Two Hong Kong government sources told the Post that an agreement is likely to be reached during Lee’s three-day visit, with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor confirming that she would join part of the meeting between Lee and Zhao.
Lam, who will be in Beijing from Wednesday to Friday for her maiden duty visit with state leaders, said Lee and a high-powered delegation would “be visiting the Ministry of Public Security, particularly to discuss the new arrangements of the notification mechanism.”
Lee said before getting on his flight that he hoped both sides could finalise the details of the new mechanism at their meeting on Thursday. However, he did not confirm if or when they would sign a formal agreement.
One of the government sources said that since two rounds of talks between both sides had already taken place, with the first happening in Beijing more than a year ago, a deal was “highly” likely to come this time.
“Given the previous two rounds, the length of time that has lapsed and the size of the delegation, a deal on this occasion is highly possible,” the source said.