MANILA, Philippines - Authorities in mainland China will not stop the decision of officials of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to maintain the travel advisory on their citizens who plan to visit the Philippines.
Chinese Ambassador Liu Jianchao said yesterday that Hong Kong has been exercising a high level of autonomy since 1997.
“With regard to the travel warning alert by the Hong Kong authorities, I’ve to say that since 1997 according to the basic law of Hong Kong SAR, Hong Kong has been exercising high level of autonomy so we respect decisions made by Hong Kong authorities and decisions made on the actual security situation,” Liu said in a press conference.
“We respect the decisions made by Hong Kong authorities based on their assessment of security situation so we leave this with them. But we hope the normal exchange of people will resume,” he said.
Liu said the Chinese government is hopeful that the Philippines and Hong Kong would agree on the right time to lift the travel advisory.
The advisory warns Hong Kong citizens of the risk of traveling to the Philippines after eight Hong Kong tourists and a hostage taker were killed after a hostage-taking incident at the Rizal Park in Manila on Aug. 23, 2010.
The suspect, armed with an M16 rifle and a pistol, commandeered a Hong Thai Travel tourist bus in Intramuros and held hostage 21 Hong Kong tourists and four Filipino guides for several hours.
The gunman had released several hostages before the Manila police Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team assaulted the bus, resulting in the death of the hostage taker and eight tourists.
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