Activist mulls injunction as court schedules hearing into controversial Hong Kong rail checkpoint for month after it is expected to open

Ex-lawmaker Baggio Leung considers next move in battle against government’s co-location plan for West Kowloon terminus, although legal experts rate his chances of success as minimal

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Sixtus Leung (left) and Kwok Cheuk-kin file their applications for a judicial review at the High Court. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Published: 5:27pm, 10 Jul 2018Updated: 10:42pm, 10 Jul 2018

A pro-independence activist could apply for an injunction against the Hong Kong government’s controversial co-location plan for the West Kowloon rail terminus, after a court ruled on Tuesday it would not hear his legal challenge until a month after the station is expected to have opened.

Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang, one of five people to apply to the High Court for a judicial review on the plan to make national laws applicable on Hong Kong soil as part of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, told the Post he was considering the move.

However, legal experts said Leung’s chances of success were low, and the court’s timetable would not delay the opening of the high-speed link, or the checkpoint in West Kowloon where the “co-location arrangement” will be implemented.

The legal challenges to the government’s plan revolve around whether allowing mainland officers to set up border checkpoints and implement national laws in the city will breach the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution, which guarantees Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy.

The government’s plan will see a section of the West Kowloon terminus come under the jurisdiction of mainland authorities. Photo: Sam Tsang

The constitution states that national laws are generally not applicable in Hong Kong.