Hong Kong's very own security minister has just announced the arrival of mainland China checkpoint officers and technicians. They are meant to help prepare the city for the opening of a cross-border high-speed rail link.
But as far as John Lee Ka-chiu is concerned, none of the aforementioned personnel will perform duties or enforce Chinese law. As he had stressed out on Wednesday, the port area in the West Kowloon terminus would not be open until late September.
According to South China Morning Post, the 26km Hong Kong section of the HK$84.4 billion (US$10.7 billion) Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link has been under the spotlight of controversy. This is reportedly due to the joint checkpoint. The latter enables the mainland Chinese officials to exercise almost full jurisdiction in their designated zone.
"For testing and system installation [in the terminus], they need to submit an application to the Hong Kong authorities and will be allowed to work only after receiving our approval," Lee said.
The Security Bureau revealed that as of early June, the Immigration Department had already approved over 500 working visas, allowing mainland Chinese personnel to conduct preparation work in the terminus. About 80 percent were engineers, while the remainder were from mainland agencies that would be stationed in the port area.
"[Officers from] the immigration inspection authority, customs authority, inspection and quarantine authority, integrated port administration authority and railway police authority need to come to Hong Kong before the mainland port area is open," the bureau said.
Yahoo! reports that mainland personnel would arrive at the terminus before the port area opened for business. This is further confirmed by the transport minister Frank Chan Fan, though he already mentioned it in May.
"They need time in Hong Kong to familiarise themselves and rehearse," Chan said, adding the government would work to shorten the preparatory stage.
