Rao Geping, a Beijing legal expert, poked the bear when he suggested that stationing Mainland Officers on the Hong Kong end of a new railway connecting Mainland China and the City will not require changing the Basic Law.
Hong Kong's Legislative Council is feared to be removed from the equation on the issue of co-location if Mainland Officers are positioned in Hong Kong without legislative procedure. However, Transport Minister Anthony Cheung Bing-leung assured that such proposal will go through the nose of the Legislative Committee (Legco).
This offer also raised concern on more implications if it goes through and put into act. The concern is, if mainland officers are to be stationed in Hong Kong, they can and might implement Mainland Laws on the city. As stated in Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the mainland law can only be imposed on the city if it is included in the Annex III of the Basic Law, which contains legislations that are beyond the control of Autonomous Hong Kong such as national defence or security.
The idea of "one country, two systems" is also feared to be thrown out the window if immigration checkpoint of both Hong Kong and Mainland China is deployed at the West Kowloon terminus. Asia Pacific Daily published that Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying affirmed that Hong Kong is part of China and such fact will nevr change. He let go of the words in front of the Press during a meeting among the executive council.
Another angle was brought by a Barrister and former Lawmaker in the name of Ronny Tong Ka-wah when he said that, "Hong Kong's jurisdiction will be jeopardised if officers are allowed to enforce the mainland's criminal law in the city ... and in this case, Legco must not be bypassed."
In a report by South China Morning Post, Rao defended that the Mainland Law "will only be adopted in a specific zone in the terminus, so it is different from the procedure for the Annex III." He said that "It only concerns legislation on departure checks," and it does not imply that an entire Mainland Law will be implemented in Hong Kong.
The issue circling the controversial railway was already brought up by New People's Party lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun, who pointed out that the government has to explain, sooner or later, the arrangement for the immigration and the joint checkpoints, in a report by South China Morning Post.
The Guangzhou-Shenzhen link is a proposed railway that sparked tension when a HK$19.6 Billion extra funding for it was abruptly approved by the Legislature's Finance Committee through a raised-hand vote. According to South China Morning Post, committee Chairman Chan Kam-lam called for a vote while the Pan-democrats, the opposition, left their seats.
After the vote, activists and Social Democrats who refused to recognize the vote tried to break into the chamber where the vote happened.
