‘Special privileges’ row sparked after senior Hong Kong official passes West Kowloon immigration with no ID
Permanent secretary Roy Tang lost both his Hong Kong identification card and mainland China entry permit on an express rail train, but officers let him back into city anyway
A senior Hong Kong official has been accused of exercising “privileges” by passing through the immigration checkpoint at West Kowloon station without travel documents, but the government denied he had received any special treatment.
Roy Tang Yun-kwong, permanent secretary at the city’s Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, bypassed the normal entry and exit procedures when taking a train back to Hong Kong with other senior officials on the day the terminus opened for the city’s new high-speed rail line to mainland China.
The bureau admitted Tang had lost both his Hong Kong identity card and home return permit on September 22 during the railway’s opening ceremony. The home return permit is the document required by Hongkongers to enter and exit mainland China.
Tang, 55, alongside Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and other guests, took a new express train to Guangzhou and returned via the railway. He lost his documents on the return trip and was only able to produce his guest pass for the ceremony and train ticket, which bore his name.
