Milk powder row triggers calls for review of visit scheme
It's time for a review, say lawmakers, with one suggesting an end to the multi-entry permits
Lawmakers are calling for a review of the controversial individual visit scheme for mainlanders amid the row over cross-border trading of baby milk powder.
The scheme, introduced in 2003, allows mainlanders to travel to Hong Kong on their own rather than in a tour group.
Tourism Board chairman and Liberal Party lawmaker James Tien Pei-chun said he welcomed measures to clamp down on trading of the milk powder, but called for an end to the scheme's multi-entry permits. He said visitors from Shenzhen should be limited to a single entry per day.
"The government should examine both the benefits and drawbacks of the individual visit scheme. Since the mainland parallel traders mainly come from Guangdong, the government should offer a single-entry permit per day for Shenzhen people."
The planned amendment to the legislation will not exempt children … to avoid a situation in which they are exploited by parallel traders
But Legislator and former security secretary Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee said limiting mainlanders to a single-entry permit was not the way to go. "Offering a single-entry permit a day to mainlanders is not the best measure. Instead, the government should pass on the parallel traders' information to the mainland government for stricter regulation."
