Dear Editor,
I am writing to share my views about the current measures taken by the police and immigration officials against cross border parallel trading. Parallel traders take products ranging from milk power, mobile phones to cosmetics over the border to sell in the mainland. As these traders buy goods from the neighborhood stores, they have pushed up the prices. Therefore, residents in Sheung Shui staged a protest in September to express their anger.
Parallel traders drive up the prices of many daily necessities. Some of them buy a large quantity of goods, and then carry the goods back to the mainland. Some act as couriers for some organized party which deals in parallel goods. Since Sheung Shui residents complained that traders have been causing congestion, police would step up enforcement against parallel traders who obstruct streets, cause a nuisance or threaten public safety. From my point of view, it is good that the government clamp down on parallel traders. These traders carry many boxes of goods at one time. When they carry the goods onto the MTR, they obstruct the space and bring inconvenience to other commuters. There have even been reports that some commuters were injured by the heavy boxes of the parallel traders.
In addition, the Government will carry out a number of new measures. The Immigration Department will prosecute the traders and after successfully prosecuting them, officials may request mainland authorities to cancel the permit of these prosecuted traders and forbid them to enter Hong Kong. I think this is a good idea. If the authorities cancel their permits, Hongkongers do not have to worry about goods being snapped up or increased prices caused by these excessive demands. Finally, the Mass Transit Railway just announced that they will strictly prohibit passengers from carrying oversized and overweight luggage. In my opinion, this law can deter parallel traders as they can only carry luggage which complies with the height and weight limitation imposed by the MTR. These traders may find the new restriction troublesome for them and it may also not be economical to carry only a few boxes of goods each time.
Actually, it is difficult for us to differentiate between genuine tourists and goods couriers. Therefore, we need to think of some other workable actions to prosecute these involved in commercial activities. The government should propose laws that only allow mainlanders to come to Hong Kong once a month and then limit them to bring one type of goods back to the mainland at a time. Although the MTR has already announced that they are going to prohibit passengers from carrying overweight and oversized luggage, traders can still bring back to the mainland high value small sized goods such as mobile phones, cosmetics and so on. From my point of view, this additional restriction is the best way to prevent and control parallel trading, as the restriction of a monthly entry and exit coupled with the limitation on the weight and size of the luggage carried should reduce these parallel trading activities.
To conclude, these mainland parallel traders bring a lot of trouble to Hongkongers especially to those living in northern New Territories. Due to the mainland’s insatiable demand for Hong Kong necessities, the parallel trade has thrived As a result, the prices of many daily necessities such as infant formula have been pushed sky-high. The government must take action now so that Hongkongers do not need to ‘fight’ with parallel traders to buy such daily necessities at an unreasonably high price or to compete with them for space at the popular MTR stations.
Yours faithfully
Chris Wong
CarmelSecondary School