Chinese court officers did not have to tell Hong Kong government about arrest at high-speed rail station, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung says
- Hong Kong’s No 2 official responds over concerns that city did not know about incident at West Kowloon terminus
- Notification arrangement between authorities covers criminal investigations and unnatural death, not civil proceedings
Chinese court officers did not have to notify the Hong Kong government about the arrest of a local traveller at the West Kowloon rail station the city’s chief secretary said on Saturday, as pressure mounted on him to explain if officials were told about the move.
The comments by Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, the city’s No 2 official, sparked concern among lawmakers that a notification system between Hong Kong and its mainland counterparts, regarding law enforcement at the station, allowed the latter to detain Hongkongers for reasons other than criminal matters, while keeping local authorities in the dark.
Cheung was referring to a mainland media report that a Hong Kong resident, surnamed Lung, who was wanted by a Shenzhen court, was arrested in the city by mainland court officials in October, after being stopped by immigration officers.
On Saturday, Cheung dodged media questions over whether the Hong Kong government had been told about the incident. But, he said the case did not fall under a previously agreed arrangement between the two sides, because Lung was not wanted in relation to a criminal investigation.
“Instead, it was some mainland court officials, working like Hong Kong bailiffs executing a court order, so the incident did not require notifications under the mechanism,” he said.
