HONG KONG: Hong Kong aiming for a mid-January to reopen its borders with China, city Chief Executive John Lee said on Saturday (Dec 24), as China has agreed to a reopening of the city’s border with the mainland.
Lee, speaking at a press event at the airport in Hong Kong as he returned from a trip to Beijing, said the goal in “gradually, orderly, and fully” reopening the city will be to return the border to its state before the virus outbreak.
“Our goal is to quickly come to a consensus with the central government, submit our plan to the central government for review and execute the plan before mid-January,” said Lee.
Hong Kong authorities will work with the governments of neighboring Shenzhen city and Guangdong province to manage the flow of people crossing the border, Lee said.
Hong Kong is a semi-autonomous Chinese territory that borders Guangdong province in southeast China. People must pass through immigration to cross between the two, and most land and sea entry points have been closed and controls tightened because of the pandemic.
At present, individuals hoping to enter China through Hong Kong can only do so through the city’s airport or two checkpoints – Shenzhen Bay or the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge.
Entrants into China must also undergo a period of hotel quarantine before they can move about freely.
Preparations for reopening are underway, including deploying thousands of officers from the city’s customs, immigration and police services, local media say.
