Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung pledges not to sacrifice local autonomy for economic returns as pan-democrats worry
CHRISTY.LEUNG@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Monday, 14 December, 2015, 2:24pm
UPDATED : Monday, 14 December, 2015, 2:41pm
Yuen said the justice department was studying whether mainland immigration and its customs clearance were beyond the city’s autonomy. Photo: Sam Tsang
The justice chief said allowing mainland immigration officers to exercise their duties at the city’s planned express rail terminus to Guangzhou would not set a bad precedent of introducing mainland laws, and he pledged not to breach the Basic Law.
Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung delivered his remarks this morning at a special transport panel meeting that quickly evolved into a constitutional debate.
Pan-democratic lawmakers slammed the justice chief for in their view burying judicial independence over the delayed 26-km railway, and they voiced fears that national security laws would be ushered in.
Yuen said the fears were unfounded and unnecessary. He said the proposed annexation would not set a bad precedent as the Basic Law stated clearly what mainland laws could be brought to the territory.
“If the legal concern of co-location falls into one of the three criteria mentioned in Article 18, I do not see how the Basic Law would be breached” Yuen said.
“Fearing that everything could thereby be annexed is groundless and pointless,” he added.
Yuen stressed that the proposal was only a possibility, and pledged not to sacrifice ‘one country two systems’ for economic returns.
The justice minister earlier suggested annexing national laws through Article 18 of the Basic Law to allow mainland enforcement agencies to perform their duties at a joint checkpoint in the West Kowloon terminus.
His comment sparked constitutional concerns that such a move could become a back door through which more mainland laws could be introduced locally.
Article 18 states that the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress could add mainland laws related to defence, foreign affairs and other matters outside the limits of Hong Kong’s autonomy.
Yuen said the justice department was studying whether mainland immigration and its customs clearance were beyond the city’s autonomy and that no final decision had been reached yet.
National People’s Congress standing committee member Rita Fan earlier brushed off fears that Beijing would use co-location as an excuse to introduce national security laws.
Lawmakers were due to consider by February whether to grant extra funding to the tune of HK$19.6 billion to the ill-fated transport project. It was expected to cost HK$84.42 billion if it could be completed by the third quarter of 2018.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1891062/groundless-and-pointless-hong-kong-justice-minister-dismisses
