Government to push ahead with plan for mainland officials to work at Hong Kong high-speed rail terminus
Transport chief says administration will not line up a backup plan to controversial arrangement, ahead of Exco meeting on Monday
The plan for immigration checkpoints manned by mainland officials on Hong Kong soil will go ahead on schedule and with no plan B, the government reiterated ahead of the formal announcement of the details as early as Tuesday.
Current and past officials continued to drum up support for the controversial plans for the Hong Kong terminus of the high-speed rail link to Guangzhou over the weekend, despite legal and constitutional uncertainties.
On Saturday Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor visited the station, which is causing one of the hottest political potatoes her young administration has had to handle.
Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung, security chief John Lee Ka-chiu and top brass from the MTR Corporation – which will run the new line – joined Lam on the tour.
Yuen and Lee’s presence underlined the visit’s purpose of making sure the station was ready for the placement of mainland immigration and quarantine stations, a plan which has drawn the ire of pan-democrats.