The New Macau Association (ANM) president Scott Chiang was barred from entering Hong Kong Monday and was forced to return on a ferry to Macau, after an immigration officer in the neighboring Special Administrative Region told him that he had failed to meet the requirements for entry.
The ANM president, who will step down from the role after the September Legislative Assembly election, claimed that the decision is linked to the visit of President Xi Jinping this week on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Hong Kong’s handover to Chinese administration. Xi is visiting the territory between June 29 (Thursday) and July 1, marking his first visit to Hong Kong as China’s president.
Chiang said that the purpose of his visit was a “clinic appointment” in Hong Kong, which he described as “routine business” on a monthly basis.
After arriving in Hong Kong, he was stopped at the immigration gates and subsequently escorted to a room where an immigration officer interviewed him.
The immigration officer enquired about the purpose of his visit. He said that although he was in possession of the medicine related to his clinic visit, he had no evidence of the appointment itself.
However, according to Chiang’s account, he told the immigration officers that he did not feel obligated to prove his purpose for entering Hong Kong.
“I was denied entry to Hong Kong for no real reason. I was told that I failed to fulfill the requirements for entering Hong Kong.
Chiang compared his the experience to the Hong Kong residents being barred entry to Macau.
According to the Macau Daily Times Chiang announced his resignation from pro-democracy group ANM late last month after a controversial board decision demoted him from the second candidate on the election ticket order to the third. He later said he would postpone his resignation until after the election.
