Following HK booksellers scandal | Notification system with mainland operational

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying

The Macau police notification mechanism with mainland security authorities has been operational since June 2001, the Public Security Forces Affairs Bureau (FSM) confirmed to the Times. A similar mechanism has existed in Hong Kong since 2001, but it apparently didn’t work in the case of the missing booksellers.
Last week, the Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-
ying, revealed that he will talk with the Central Government in order to start discussions on a notification mechanism for cases of Hong Kong residents who are detained in mainland China.
“The starting point, and to me it’s basic and fundamental, is that we want to know as soon as possible when a Hong Kong resident is arrested by a jurisdiction outside of Hong Kong. That applies to foreign governments and should also apply to the mainland, because we are two systems,” Leung explained to the South China Morning Post.
Leung’s contact with Beijing follows revelations made last month by bookseller Lam Wing-
kee. Lam is one of five booksellers who went missing for several months only to turn up later in mainland China, either detained or involved in investigations. According to the Associated Press, he returned to Hong Kong last month on the condition of providing information to Chinese authorities regarding buyers of the gossipy tomes on China’s Communist leadership in which his company specialized in. However, Lam defied the orders and instead spoke out about his ordeal of being secretly detained on the mainland. His revelations sparked international concern that Beijing is eroding the “one country two systems” policy, which also applies to Macau.
The Times contacted the Government Spokesperson Office in order to find out if the MSAR is planning to introduce a mechanism similar to the one expected to be discussed between the Hong Kong Chief Executive and Beijing. We also inquired if there is any legal assistance provided by the MSAR government whenever a local resident is arrested in mainland China.
According to the reply sent in Chinese by FSM, the notification system was established via an agreement between the Office of the Secretary for Security together with the Office of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Affairs and the mainland Ministry of Public Security.
“The agreement clarified that the mainland and Macau police authorities under the principles of mutual respect and support, as well as claiming to not interfere in each party’s law enforcement operations, established the notification mechanism, under which both sides shall be responsible for giving notifications to the other party on the imposition of criminal compulsory measures, and unnatural deaths of residents of the other party,” the FSM reply read, according to our translation.
The reply adds that the notification mechanism “does not affect each party’s implementation of its own imposition of criminal compulsory measures, and does not affect each party’s protection of the right of the residents and their families.”
FSM also noted that the Macau Secretariat for Administration and Justice and the Central Government are currently discussing a criminal justice assistance agreement.