BEIJING
China’s Ministry of Public Security has announced that residents of a mainland city bordering Hong Kong will no longer be issued multiple entry permits, in a move designed to tackle parallel trading.
A circular released Monday said Shenzhen residents who possess annual entry permits to Hong Kong will only be allowed "one visit a week" to the city, where they are permitted to stay for a maximum of seven days.
The issue of parallel trading -- whereby visitors buy tax-free goods in Hong Kong for resale on the mainland -- has been a source of tension in the territory, with Hong Kong residents claiming the practice has inflated retail prices and caused a nuisance to locals. The traders say their business benefits the Hong Kong economy.
China’s state news agency Xinhua cited an unnamed spokesperson from the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council as saying the enactment of the policy showed the central government's consideration for Hong Kong's livelihood.
The move was also in support of the positive response by the semi-autonomous territory’s government to the wishes of local residents, according to the spokesperson.
Only Shenzhen permanent residents had been able to hold multiple-entry permits, which allowed them to make as many trips as they wanted to Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong government had submitted a proposal to the central government in Beijing to adjust the multiple-entry policy, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
Around 14.9 million of the 60.8 million visitors to Hong Kong last year were from Shenzhen. Around 47 million visitors from the mainland visited the territory last year, according to the Shanghai Daily.
A Hong Kong government source told the Post on Sunday that the restriction would cut the number of visitors to the city by 4.6 million a year -- a 30 percent reduction in the number crossing from Shenzhen to Hong Kong.
Trading at border towns has created friction and triggered protests and clashes in Hong Kong’s New Territories district.
Mainland visitors are blamed for buying up daily essentials such as infant formula and diapers and putting excessive pressure on public transport.
Some Shenzhen residents said they did not believe the restriction would resolve the problem of cross-border trading, with Hong Kong residents thought to be responsible for around 60 percent of the trade.
