Mainland support still strong: CE

March 16, 2022

Chief Executive Carrie Lam:
The Central People's Government has been extremely understanding and supportive of Hong Kong.

With the (COVID-19) clusters now being seen very close to Hong Kong, that is in our neighbouring city of Shenzhen, one would expect that Shenzhen could easily close the border - that no Hong Kong passengers could cross the border into Shenzhen, in order to cut the transmission. But Shenzhen has not taken this act. And I believe the Central People's Government also does not want to see this happen. So, we still have a certain degree of people flow from Hong Kong into Shenzhen.

But where the public health considerations dictate that Shenzhen wants to impose more stringent pre-arrival tests of PCR (polymerase chain reaction) within 24 hours instead of 48 hours, then, of course, it is a very legitimate response of the city government. And the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government will fully co-operate and support Shenzhen in taking those legitimate measures.

Similarly, for the flow of cargo, the Central People's Government, the Guangdong (Provincial) Government, and the Shenzhen (Municipal People’s) Government officials have all told me and assured me that they would try very hard to ensure the smooth arrival of cargo, especially fresh produce and vegetables that will support the people of Hong Kong.

But we need to find alternative measures. So instead of just relying on 8,000 cross-border truck drivers, transporting the goods on a daily basis, we now have cargo coming in by sea. We now have cargo coming in by train. So, this is to illustrate to you that this is a very strong support from my Mainland counterparts, despite the difficulties or the emergency situation that they are now facing.

So we will continue to co-operate fully with the Mainland authorities to take the necessary measures to protect the safety and health of people on both sides because we belong to one country and we are compatriots. And we would love to see both sides of the border coming out of this epidemic as soon as possible.

(To watch the full press conference with sign language interpretation, click here.)

Chief Executive Carrie Lam said today support from Mainland is still very strong despite the difficulties and the emergency situation that they are now facing.

At a press conference this morning, Mrs Lam said the Central People's Government has been extremely understanding and supportive of Hong Kong.

She said: “With the COVID-19 clusters now being seen very close to Hong Kong, that is in our neighbouring city of Shenzhen, one would expect that Shenzhen could easily close the border - that no Hong Kong passengers could cross the border into Shenzhen, in order to cut the transmission. But Shenzhen has not taken this act.

“And I believe the Central People's Government also does not want to see this happen. So, we still have a certain degree of people flow from Hong Kong into Shenzhen.”

As for Shenzhen imposing more stringent pre-arrival tests of polymerase chain reaction within 24 hours instead of 48 hours, Mrs Lam said it is a very legitimate response of the city government due to the public health considerations.

She said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government will fully co-operate and support Shenzhen in taking legitimate measures.

Mrs Lam also said that she was assured on supplies coming in from the Mainland.

“The Central People's Government, the Guangdong Provincial Government, and the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government officials have all told me and assured me that they would try very hard to ensure the smooth arrival of cargo, especially fresh produce and vegetables that will support the people of Hong Kong.

“But we need to find alternative measures. So instead of just relying on 8,000 cross-border truck drivers, transporting the goods on a daily basis, we now have cargo coming in by sea. We now have cargo coming in by train. So, this is to illustrate to you that this is a very strong support from my Mainland counterparts, despite the difficulties or the emergency situation that they are now facing.

“So we will continue to co-operate fully with the Mainland authorities to take the necessary measures to protect the safety and health of people on both sides because we belong to one country and we are compatriots. And we would love to see both sides of the border coming out of this epidemic as soon as possible.”