The cross-border police notification system is expected to improve as the Chinese central government and the Hong Kong special administrative region (SAR) have started discussing amendments to the process in Beijing on Tuesday, July 5, China Daily reported.
Under the amendments being discussed, the central government will inform Hong Kong authorities when a resident is arrested or detained, and vice versa.
The four areas of the amendment are expected to improve the protection of rights for arrested or detained people, speed up resolution of cross-border crimes, and preserve stability and social progress through the "one country, two systems" principle.
The meeting was held after Leung Chun-ying, the Hong Kong SAR's chief executive, wrote to the State Council's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office last month, expressing concern for the the arrest of Lam Wing Kee, a bookstore owner in Causeway Bay. Leung asked for a review of the notification procedure.
Lam, suspected of illegal trading in books on the mainland, was arrested at a checkpoint in Shenzhen for selling books that were banned on the mainland, Ningbo police said.
Released on bail in March 21 this year, Lam returned to Hong Kong in June. He claimed he was tortured by mainland law enforcers.
Meanwhile, Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun said that Leung's request for review was given importance since the mainland and Hong Kong police have worked together before in many law enforcement operations.
The Hong Kong delegation was led by SAR's Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwokkeung and Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok.
The two-way notification process has been in use by mainland public security authorities and Hong Kong police since Jan. 2001.
Under the process, the liaison officer of the Ministry of Public Security will inform the Liaison Bureau of the Hong Kong Police Force when Hong Kong residents are detained or arrested by mainland public security authorities or customs authorities. The ministry is also tasked to report on the unnatural deaths of Hong Kong residents on the mainland.
For 15 years since it was implemented, the process has resulted in the arrest of 6,172 Hong Kong residents in the mainland and the arrests of 6,934 mainland residents in Hong Kong.