Critics of joint checkpoint rail ‘irrational’ as solid legal basis exists for plan, city’s leader says

But former legislative president counters that local officials are partly to blame for anxiety due to lack of clarity about legal basis.

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Construction in West Kowloon for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 8:17pm, 11 Jan 2018Updated: 10:27pm, 11 Jan 2018

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor hit out on Thursday at critics of the joint checkpoint plan for the cross-border high-speed rail link, describing them as irrational in failing to accept the city’s constitutional order 20 years after the handover.

But former Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, a pro-Beijing stalwart, said local officials were partly to blame for the dispute over the “co-location” arrangement under which national laws would be enforced in a section of the West Kowloon terminal leased to the mainland.

National laws would be enforced in a section of the West Kowloon terminal leased to the mainland. Photo: Edward Wong

Lam’s defiant words came during her first question-and-answer session this year at Legco after pan-democratic lawmaker Helena Wong Pik-wan mocked the government for its “slavish attitude” towards Beijing by pressing ahead with local legislation for the joint checkpoint.

The plan for the high-speed rail link to Guangzhou was endorsed last month by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) but slammed by the city’s Bar Association as the most retrograde step since 1997. Critics said officials had failed to explain how the arrangement would not breach the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.

‘Impolite’ accusations against Chinese officials over joint checkpoint part of ‘vicious cycle’, legal scholar says

On Thursday, Lam recited the claims – “the NPCSC decided it just by saying so”, “the government was scared of the NPCSC”, and “the NPCSC’s decision emasculated the local courts” – and refuted each one as irrational.