Hong Kong Deputy Questions Disney Deal

A Hong Kong member of the mainland Chinese Congress has questioned the legality of the territory’s deal to build a Disneyland theme park, a Hong Kong newspaper reported. Hong Kong’s agreement with Walt Disney Co. involves a 50-year lease for the park site on outlying Lantau Island and includes an option to renew the lease for another 50 years. But Ma Lik, a National People’s Congress deputy from Hong Kong, told the Hong Kong Standard that the lease might run afoul of laws that were put in place when Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty July 1, 1997. Hong Kong was granted a great deal of autonomy for 50 years, but Ma said both Hong Kong’s mini-constitution and the Chinese-British agreement on Hong Kong specify that any leases can run only for that period.