Hong Kong opens rail link with China

Right on track: Police officers standing guard outside the Western Kowloon Station during a protest against Beijing’s creeping influence over the semi-autonomous Chinese region. — AP

HONG KONG: Hong Kong opened a new high-speed rail link to inland China that will vastly decrease travel times but also raises concerns about Beijing’s creeping influence over the semi-autonomous Chinese region.

Costing upward of US$10bil (RM41.3bil) and taking more than eight years to build, the system aims to transport more than 80,000 passengers daily between the Asian financial centre of seven million people and the neighbouring manufacturing hub of Guangdong province.