Exclusive | Hong Kong to ramp up security for handover anniversary, guard against ‘new threats’ including Covid-19, ‘home-grown terrorism’
- Security chief Chris Tang says all law enforcement agencies will be mobilised and preparations are in full swing to ensure guests’ safety
- Plans for mobilisation, operations and emergency response under way, with police equipment and technology also upgraded, Tang adds
Protecting the Chinese state leader and his entourage from terrorist attacks and Covid-19 infection are among the challenges law enforcement agencies will face during the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover, the security minister has revealed.
Hong Kong would mobilise all law enforcement agencies for the July 1 handover commemoration, which coincided with the swearing-in of John Lee Ka-chiu as the new chief executive, Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said in a wide-ranging exclusive interview with the Post, adding that police had also upgraded their equipment.
Though it remained unclear whether Chinese President Xi Jinping would lead the central government’s delegation to Hong Kong for the event as he did five years ago, Tang said preparations were in full swing to ensure guests’ safety.
New threats including the coronavirus pandemic and home-grown terrorism had emerged, he said, making security work this year more challenging compared with 2017 when global terrorism and public order were authorities’ main concerns.
