Parallel traders back in Hong Kong after 'useless' four-day crackdown by mainland Chinese authorities
Sheung Shui residents say action by Shenzhen authorities kept town quiet
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 19 September, 2015, 12:02am
UPDATED : Saturday, 19 September, 2015, 5:56pm
Gloria Chan
[email protected]
So-called parallel traders from the mainland return to the Lok Ma Chau border checkpoint yesterday, after a four-day crackdown by mainland authorities kept many away. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
The number of so-called parallel-goods traders taking their Hong Kong purchases across the border for resale fell noticeably this week amid a surprise crackdown by mainland authorities, but their activities were back on the rise after the four-day campaign ended yesterday.
Media reports emerged on Monday that authorities in Shenzhen were to take action against the traders, including confiscating trolleys used to transport goods and checking identities for further investigation.
No reason was given for the move, but many traders chose to stay away.
So-called parallel traders from the mainland return to the Lok Ma Chau border checkpoint yesterday, after a four-day crackdown by mainland authorities kept many away. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
Hongkongers have protested against the traders, whom they accuse of causing overcrowding in towns close to the border, leaving locals short of supplies and changing the character of the northern New Territories, as shops serving traders edge out those used by residents. Several protests turned violent earlier in the year, but marches earlier this month passed off peacefully.
Leung Kam-sing, spokesman for the North District Parallel Imports Concern Group, said the number of traders in the border town of Sheung Shui noticeably declined between Monday and Thursday.
"It felt like the Lunar New Year, when the traders were on holiday," Leung said yesterday. "Yet they are back today, which means the crackdown was quite useless in the long run."
Signs of the mainland's crackdown could still be seen on the Shenzhen side of the Lok Ma Chau-Futian border checkpoint, where traders make hundreds of trips a day pushing trolleys full of products such as yakult (above), infant milk formula, diapers, biscuits and mooncakes. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
Residents said they also noted a fall in the number of traders, by about 50 per cent.
"I think it is due to the strict crackdown," said John Wong Ka-choi, 52, who has lived in Sheung Shui for two decades. "This area used to be very quiet and peaceful, but now it's always crowded."
Signs of the mainland's crackdown could still be seen on the Shenzhen side of the Lok Ma Chau-Futian border checkpoint, where traders make hundreds of trips a day pushing trolleys full of products such as infant milk formula, diapers, biscuits and mooncakes. They take advantage of low prices in low-tax Hong Kong and dodge high mainland import duties.
A Post reporter saw more than 100 suitcases and bags taken and tagged by mainland customs at a fenced-off area in the afternoon.
But back in Sheung Shui, the traders were out to try their luck.
At a taxi stand on Fu Hing Street, more than 20 traders, each with a suitcase and three or four bags, waited for rides to Lok Ma Chau. One told the Post the taxi fare was about HK$80. When a cab pulled up, traders filled the boot with suitcases before squeezing in with their bags.
"There were far fewer of them in the past two days," pharmacy worker Lau Wai said. "But today, they are all back again."
