CY Leung calls separate rail link immigration checkpoints ‘entirely unfeasible’

The idea of setting up immigration checkpoints separately on both sides of the mainland and Hong Kong along a cross-border high speed rail was unfeasible, the city’s top official said today.

Speaking before the Executive Council meeting on Tuesday morning, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying commented on the suggestion that a separate checkpoints model could be adopted first in the ongoing dispute over immigration clearance arrangements for the rail.

The idea had been floated on concerns that the government-favoured approach of setting up a joint checkpoint at the West Kowloon terminus could contravene the Basic Law and the ‘one country, two systems’ spirit.

Leung said most of the stations along the mainland section of the high-speed railway network did not have customs and immigration checkpoints. “So setting up separate checkpoints in these cities is entirely unfeasible,” Leung said.

The chief executive said his administration was confident that the single checkpoint set-up would be feasible and be implemented in line with the ‘one country, two systems’ principle and Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy.

Leung also said he hoped the new Competition Ordinance, which came into effect yesterday, could help protect consumers' interests. He said the government would review the effectiveness of the new law from time to time.