Growing Chorus Against Hong Kong's Extradition Bill

Hong Kong people have protested against extradition with no response

Hong Kong people have tried to voice their displeasure and fears of the upcoming extradition bill the government is trying to push through, but they were ignored.

Now the foreign embassies in the city are speaking out -- which they rarely do.

Thirty-two diplomats were invited to a closed-door lunch meeting in the Legislative Council today, where they expressed deep reservations about the extradition bill. The lunch follows a formal diplomatic protest by European Union officials on May 24 against the government's planned changes to the extradition laws, which would allow suspects to be handed over to authorities in mainland China and other places.

Elsie Leung says the bill must be passed soon... but why?

Eleven representatives from the EU handed a formal note to Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, urging her to be more clear about the extradition bill.

Earlier former Justice Minister Elsie Leung Oi-sie insisted the bill had to be passed quickly, and even compared it to the "co-location" joint immigration and customs arrangement at the West Kowloon terminus, saying once it was implemented, nothing happened, and that given time, the same would be the case with the extradition bill.

However, she is comparing apples and oranges, and the fact that she insists the law has to be changed as soon as possible means Leung is not concerned about all the details in the bill and its implications.

Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, chairwoman of the New People's Party, and one of the chief executive's advisers in the Executive Council, said no diplomats voiced support for the bill.

"Some were worried whether human rights protections under the amendments were too weak, because [the proposal] will not be scrutinized by Legco," she said.

Ip added some diplomats felt the government did not hear the views of international business sector on the issue. That led her to suggest the Hong Kong government has to do more to explain the changes in the bill.

Carrie Lam needs to explain the bill more clearly to everyone

Meanwhile, Dennis Kwok, a Civic Party lawmaker, said diplomatic representatives of the European Union and at least five other foreign countries, including Germany and the United States, expressed deep concerns over the extradition bill, as well as the government's decision to bypass the bills committee's scrutiny.

The diplomats also voiced concerns over the lack of legal protection and the unlikeliness of the chief executive not refusing Beijing's demands.

These really are the core issues -- Lam is stuck between a rock and a hard place, while the changes to this extradition bill will prevent people in Hong Kong from having the legal protection they enjoy now.

Starry Lee Wai-king, chairwoman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong claimed some diplomats supported the bill but refused to divulge who they are.

Shall we hazard a guess?

In any event, the fear is that when the extradition bill is passed, it would allow the transfer of fugitives to any jurisdiction which Hong Kong lacks any treaty with, including the mainland.

Cohen says the extradition bill could have scary implications

China legal scholar Jerome Cohen says democratic governments have not signed an extradition treaty with the mainland because they know alleged offenders cannot get a fair trial. And so even 22 years after Hong Kong's handover to China, there has been no extradition treaty made with Beijing.

He adds China's failures to meet international standards of due process are well known, including its arbitrary, often lengthy, secret and incommunicado detention, widespread existence of torture and frequent denial of the help of defense counsel.

The police, prosecutors and judges all work for the Communist Party political-legal committee, and the new National Supervision Commission that controls them, Cohen says. "A single party leader's brief instruction can determine guilt or innocence, the duration of a sentence or even the death penalty."

Cohen says once the extradition bill is passed, it will be easier for China to extradite those "fugitives" it wants without having to kidnap them -- like tycoon Xiao Jianhua being whisked out of the Four Seasons Hong Kong in 2017-- and that person will not have much access to a legal defense.

"Perhaps the most frightening aspect of the impending amendment is its application, not only to all SAR citizens and foreign and Chinese residents of the SAR, but also to anyone who passes through Hong Kong," he says. "This will lead to more than the reciprocating of Canada's recent detention of Huawei's CFO at Vancouver airport for extradition based on alleged violations of American law while in Hong Kong."

Is that chilling enough to be worried about Hong Kong passing the extradition bill?

About 3,000 people marched yesterday in protest, and expect tens of thousands more to show up June 4 in Victoria Park.