A quicker immigration clearance system that will be deployed at a revamped land crossing between Hong Kong and China will not send residents’ data to mainland authorities, the city’s security chief has said.
Secretary for Security Chris Tang said on Monday that the construction to upgrade the Huanggang border checkpoint is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Following the implementation of a “joint clearance” with the mainland authorities at the revamped checkpoint, Hong Kong residents can travel to Shenzhen with their mainland travel permits and return using their Hong Kong ID cards, Tang told lawmakers at the legislature’s panel on security.
Residents will need to register with the mainland authorities to use the service, he added.
This arrangement could significantly shorten the time required for immigration clearance at the land crossing, from around half an hour to about five minutes, he said.
Most land crossings between Hong Kong and mainland China have separate border controls, with travellers going through two clearance processes handled separately by the two immigration authorities.
The Hong Kong government has pushed for a “co-location” clearance system, which was first employed at Shenzhen Bay Port in 2007 and later at the West Kowloon high-speed rail station in 2018.
Under the co-location arrangement, travellers could complete clearance of both sides in one location.
‘Consent’
Tang said the new system at the Huanggang checkpoint will not require Hong Kong’s Immigration Department to share residents’ data with its mainland counterpart.
“This system will not transfer the data stored in our Immigration Department’s system to the other side,” he said in Cantonese.
“Those who wish to use this service will have to register with the mainland authorities, and the clearance will only require the information they have consented to provide to the mainland,” he added.
The joint clearance system could be extended to the Heung Yuen Wai control point, known in Shenzhen as the Liantang port, in the future, Tang said.
He also said that construction personnel from Hong Kong will be able to enter Huanggang in the fourth quarter of this year to install immigration facilities.
The construction cost is estimated to be HK$1.57 billion, and the government will apply to the legislature for the funding towards the end of this year, he said.
The expanded Huanggang checkpoint was designed to handle 200,000 travellers and 15,000 vehicles between Hong Kong and Shenzhen every day.
Located on the western side of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong border, the Huanggang checkpoint started redevelopment in 2019.
The co-location clearance arrangement was a controversial issue in Hong Kong. The city’s now diminished opposition argued that having mainland authorities handle immigration procedures in Hong Kong’s territory would infringe upon the city’s autonomy.
