New Ideas Needed For Reverse Quarantine Plan: CE

Chief Executive John Lee said on Tuesday that his administration will have to wait for further ideas from mainland authorities regarding a plan to allow travellers to quarantine in Hong Kong before crossing the border.

Earlier, the sole delegate to the country's top legislature, Tam Yiu-chung, revealed that the so-called "reverse quarantine" plan had hit a snag due to technical complications, such as difficulties with hiring enough people to manage the isolation facilities.

Speaking ahead of the weekly Executive Council meeting, Lee said both the mainland and SAR authorities are still "working to iron out some challenges".

"We have to agree on the arrangement so that when a person having gone through the pre-departure quarantine arrangement, he will be considered having fulfilled the 'seven plus three' arrangement," he said, referring to the mainland's Covid policy of a week in hotel quarantine and another three days of self-monitoring at home.

The CE stressed the importance of making sure the arrangement does not pose any extra risks to the mainland.

"For anybody who has gone through this pre-departure quarantine, because the standard has been made in accordance with the mainland standard… the only thing we need to do is to ensure that they are also transported to the mainland in a closed-loop way," Lee said.

"We are conscious of the fact that Hong Kong has to maintain [connections] both to the world and to the mainland. We are working towards both goals at the same time. Of course, I will have to wait for further ideas from our mainland counterparts so that we can really work out on the details."

Separately, Lee was asked whether the local legislation of a national security law would be one of the highlights of his policy address to be delivered on Wednesday.

In response, the CE reiterated that officials will have to conduct extensive research to make sure the future legislation is able to keep up with the fast-changing geopolitical environment.

“I would like our [Article 23] proposal to cover a very wide range of research into the legislations that are available for reference, in connection with means and tactics of protecting national security, so as to ensure that the final proposal will be able to deal with all the anticipated situations and circumstances.”

Meanwhile, Lee said President Xi Jinping’s report delivered at the opening of the Communist Party’s 20th congress had mentioned Hong Kong, Macau and the One Country Two Systems repeatedly, which shows the central government’s deep concern for the two SARs.

He added that the visions laid out in the report will be an action guide for Hong Kong’s future development.