The New Constitutional Disorder: The Unlawful Application of Mainland Chinese Law to Hong Kong

High-speed rail has arrived in Hong Kong, but so has the law and exclusive jurisdiction of Mainland China. The People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“HKSAR”) have established a “Co-Location Arrangement” at the Hong Kong terminus of the new high-speed rail line. Touted as just another immigration pre-clearance arrangement, similar to the UK-France/Belgium juxtaposed controls and the US-Canada clearance agreements, the Co-Location Arrangement goes much further. It is an unparalleled attempt to dis-apply Hong Kong law from part of Hong Kong territory,disable the jurisdiction of Hong Kong institutions over the area, and transfer them to Mainland China. As a result, this part of Hong Kong territory is now ostensibly under the law and exclusive jurisdiction, not of Hong Kong, but of Mainland China. This unprecedented arrangement seriously undermines Hong Kong’s constitution on multiple fronts, potentially violates the PRC Constitution, and gravely erodes the rule of law in the region. It plunges Hong Kong into a new era of constitutional disorder.