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Customs Clearance|Re-say "Next month's land-port clearance" How many come true this time?

2021-11-05T01:42:46.034Z


Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor told reporters before attending the executive meeting last Tuesday (October 26) that the SAR government is now striving to promote epidemic prevention measures in line with mainland standards, including cancellations, in order to achieve early customs clearance with the mainland.


Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor told reporters before attending the executive meeting last Tuesday (October 26) that the SAR government is striving for early customs clearance with the mainland and is now working hard to promote epidemic prevention measures in line with mainland standards as much as possible, including the cancellation of most quarantine exemptions to Hong Kong. Group arrangement.

A week after the incident, the Hong Kong government announced on Tuesday (November 2) that it would narrow down the relevant group to cross-border passenger and truck drivers, crew members, cargo ship crews, government officials, etc. next Friday (November 12). Category 5, so even foreign consul generals must undergo home quarantine when they come to Hong Kong.

Not long afterwards, good news came out yesterday (November 4). For example, some media quoted mainland health officials saying that dry and Hong Kong are expected to start two-way isolation-free customs clearance as soon as the middle of next month. A spokesperson for the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office even issued an announcement saying that customs clearance is underway. Advance in an orderly manner.


Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said that the Hong Kong government is striving for customs clearance with the mainland.

(Photo by Liang Pengwei)

Learn the lesson that you couldn’t “clear the customs” in the past

Summarizing the key words of Hong Kong in the past two years, the position of "closing customs" is listed among them.

Everyone can't help but be puzzled, why even though Hong Kong has achieved the goal of "zeroing local infections" for a long time, it still has to accept at least 14 days of mandatory centralized quarantine measures when entering the mainland, and cannot achieve a two-way relationship with the mainland like Macau, which is also a special administrative region. Free isolation and customs clearance.

I believe that one of the major problems is that the Hong Kong government has not correctly understood the meaning of "customs clearance", and it has been unable to clarify the basic conditions required in it.

For a long time, there has been an uninterrupted and very frequent flow of people between the mainland and Hong Kong, including official business, family visits, tourism and other activities, which are very important to Hong Kong's economic development and daily operations.

In the middle of last year, when the new crown virus epidemic swept the world and almost stopped economic activities, the mainland succeeded in preventing and controlling the epidemic with stringent barrier measures, and took the lead in resuming economic production.

It stands to reason that Hong Kong, which has such a close relationship with the Mainland, should have coordinated with the Mainland as soon as possible to actively promote two-way customs clearance, but the reality is that Hong Kong has been constrained by the thinking of "institutional separation" and believes that Hong Kong's epidemic prevention standards are difficult to connect with the Mainland; Secondly, due to the shackles of liberalism, he hesitated between "clearing" and "coexistence"-as a result, customs clearance was repeatedly delayed.

Earlier, the incoming crew members and crew members who were exempted from quarantine have been diagnosed.

(Photo by Cai Zhengbang)

"External defense import" measures still need to be strengthened

For example, although Hong Kong has adopted a certain degree of customs sealing measures long ago, requiring mainland and overseas immigrants to be isolated to prevent importation; however, when the overseas epidemic is out of control, the Hong Kong government still treats people from the local area very much. "Preferential treatment" once exempted aircrew or passenger and cargo crew from quarantine measures, allowing them to move freely in the community; or allowing citizens to freely go to quarantine hotels to visit relatives and friends returning from high-risk areas to Hong Kong, which resulted in many large-scale local outbreaks.

Looking through the documents of the Legislative Council, from February to May last year, about 200,000 people were exempted from entering Hong Kong under quarantine, and this year the number has increased unabated. From January to July, about 300,000 people were exempted from entering and exiting Hong Kong. Compulsory inspection qualifications.

In view of the many loopholes in Hong Kong's "foreign import prevention" measures, the mainland authorities are really relieved.

In fact, although the mainland lifted the restrictions on provinces and cities as early as last year, it still maintains quite strict entry and quarantine arrangements to prevent the epidemic from falling short.

For example, after Macau, which has achieved customs clearance with the mainland, had sporadic confirmed cases of unknown origin before the National Day holiday, even if the authorities have quickly investigated, they cannot get the mainland's accommodations. Customs clearance must be restored after the situation is stabilized.

This is the case for Macau, which has a relatively low flow of overseas inbound tourists, let alone Hong Kong, which is a cosmopolitan city?

Tan Yaozong, a member of the Standing Committee of the Hong Kong People’s Congress, who was originally scheduled to go to Beijing to attend a meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in the middle of the month, was banned from attending the meeting because of a new diagnosis in Hong Kong that had an unclear source. Compared with previous cases, Hong Kong representatives were still allowed to go to Beijing. This clearly reflects the mainland’s hard-line statement that it will not back down on "foreign defense import."

From next month, the government will force citizens to enter government public facilities or office premises to register with "Travel with peace of mind".

(Profile picture)

Most quarantine exempt groups should be cancelled long ago

After a customs clearance meeting with mainland experts in Hong Kong at the end of last month, Xu Shuchang, a government expert consultant and Chair Professor of Respiratory System at CUHK, revealed that the mainland has proposed a "customs clearance roadmap" and will focus on how Hong Kong will tighten discharge arrangements and tighten arrivals. Exempt quarantine groups, encrypt the number of tests performed by people in high-exposure groups, and add a "customs clearance code" with tracking function.

To be fair, the Hong Kong government has indeed begun to tighten a number of epidemic prevention measures recently, including abolishing most exempt groups, encrypting high-risk group testing, and compulsory use of "safe travel" to enter and exit government premises.

Among them, the measures to "abolish most exempt quarantine groups" have attracted much attention.

According to the government's anti-epidemic website, there are currently 12 categories of people who arrive in Hong Kong from overseas who can be exempted from quarantine, including crew members, government personnel performing official duties, and foreign diplomats in Hong Kong. Those who arrive in Hong Kong from the Mainland, Macau or Taiwan are exempt from quarantine. There are 36 categories that can apply for exemption from quarantine. In addition, truck drivers, Hong Kong residents or Guangdong residents who have passed the "Easy-Return to Hong Kong" or "Easy-to-Hong Kong" program do not need to be quarantined.

In this regard, the Hong Kong government announced on Tuesday that most of the quarantine exemption arrangements will be cancelled from next Friday, including foreign consul generals or at least equivalent representatives in Hong Kong, who will be subject to home quarantine upon arrival in Hong Kong, while other consuls and their families will now be placed under home quarantine. Quarantine in hotels is changed; only the five categories of cross-border truck and bus drivers, crew members, cargo ship crews, and government personnel performing government operations can be exempted.

This is a crucial step for Hong Kong's "foreign defense import" strategy.

However, there is indeed some controversy as to whether Hong Kong should "keep cleared" or "coexist with the virus", whether it should "prioritize customs clearance with the Mainland" or "strictly prevent overseas imports."

For example, the Asian Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA), whose members include BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and other institutions, wrote to the Financial Secretary Chen Maobo, arguing that Hong Kong’s current anti-epidemic measures are detrimental to its status as a financial center and requesting relaxation of entry and anti-epidemic restrictions. , Accept "Coexist with the virus."

The association also stated that if the measures continue for a long time, it will make it difficult for foreign businessmen to maintain their operations, and even consider withdrawing from Hong Kong.

Zhong Guobin, the leader of the Liberal Party, is worried that if foreign businessmen fail to see the timetable and standards for customs clearance, they may gradually reduce the scale of their presence in Hong Kong.

After tightening the quarantine-free entry and anti-epidemic measures, after arriving in Hong Kong, a quarantine period of 2 to 3 weeks is required.

(Photo by Liang Pengwei)

Clearing customs with the Mainland first is more in Hong Kong's interest

However, it is obviously more in Hong Kong's interest to give priority to customs clearance with the Mainland.

According to statistics from the Trade and Industry Department, as of the 22nd of this month, about 27,000 people have passed two exemptions for companies that set up factories in the Mainland and manufacture goods for Hong Kong and Hong Kong companies engaged in production operations in the Mainland; Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau Responsible financial industry and listed companies eligible for exemption arrangements, as of this month, received a total of 388 applications, 86 of which were approved.

It can be seen that there are not many applicants for the relevant exemption measures, and the actual impact of the cancellation of the exemption is limited.

In fact, Hong Kong serves as a bridge between the Mainland and foreign countries. On the contrary, most foreign businessmen stationed in Hong Kong have a lot of business with the Mainland. Because of the separation caused by customs closures, many Mainland customers who originally relied on Hong Kong market services can only choose to find alternatives locally. As a result, foreign businessmen had to relocate relevant personnel directly to keep in touch with the mainland market.

If things go on like this, it will really weaken Hong Kong’s status as an international financial center and the attractiveness of a commercial hub.

As for the view that foreign businessmen mentioned that "the coexistence of the virus, customs clearance with the Mainland is not more important than customs clearance with the international", it is even more undesirable.

Not to mention that Hong Kong is far from reaching the high level of vaccination rate of more than 80% in countries such as Singapore. As the weather turns cold, many countries are again facing a new wave of outbreaks at multiple points, and the variant virus Delta+ has more signs of spreading.

In an interview with Hong Kong 01, one of the government’s anti-epidemic experts and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, Liang Zhuowei pointed out that “the bubbles in Hong Kong and other places have burst many times and will continue to explode,” and three out of those arriving in Hong Kong Both are from the Mainland. Once people who have adopted a place that "coexists with the virus" come to Hong Kong, it is easy to repeat the same mistakes as the Singapore epidemic.

As the "South Gate" of the country, once Hong Kong's epidemic prevention breaches, the impact on society, economy, and people's livelihood will be incalculable.

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2021-11-05

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