Official reports have suggested that arrangements for mainland Chinese officials at the new cross-border railway station in Hong Kong will not be performed in "secret," contrary to popular belief. This was confirmed by the metro's very own leader.
According to South China Morning Post, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor stressed on Tuesday that the aforementioned operation would not remain hidden. She even ordered the MTR Corporation and government departments to respond promptly if there would be public concerns.
The city leader was reportedly responding to several complaints courtesy of lawmakers. Most of these, however, were about keeping them in the dark about a 15-minute ceremony on Monday night to hand over a 105,000 square meter port area inside the West Kowloon terminus to mainland authorities. Apparently, a press release was issued immediately after midnight.
Under the controversial "co-location" arrangement, mainland personnel is said to be allowed to run the joint border checkpoint. At the same time, they will be given the authority to enforce mainland laws as long as it is within their designated port area. All of these are expected to happen when the HK$84.4 billion (US$10.7 billion) Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link opens on September 23.
There were around 100 mainland and Hong Kong officials who had all attended the event. The only catch, though, is that the even was not publicised in advance. Even the news media did not receive any invitation.
Hong Kong's chief executive described the event as "a little working level handover procedure."
"That was not a ceremony per se, so I wasn't there on this particular occasion. The important opening ceremony will take place on September 22 and will be formally officiated by myself and Governor Ma Xingrui of Guangdong province," Lam said, before her weekly meeting with advisers in the Executive Council.
Etleboro reports that she also responded to some new concerns over the long-delayed and overbudget rail link. As for the reports of a "secret floor" at level B5 of the terminus which is believed to be providing a short cut to the rail platforms, Lam explained that it could be likened to a hotel's "back of house area." She went to claim that it was never a "mysterious" place.
"If you've stayed at hotels before, you would know hotels have [facilities] called 'back of house,' where maintenance is carried out," she said.
Furthermore, Lam tackled the issue concerning mainland officers. This simply relates to the latter's position of manning the joint checkpoint, which will open between 6.30am and 11.30pm daily. She clarified that they would not remain in the city after they finished their work for the day, though some would need to do overnight shifts in the run-up to the rail link's opening.
