Police, protesters face off in Hong Kong law debate
Government HONG KONG — officials in Hong Kong are bracing for a showdown as protesters and police continue to face off into the early morning hours outside the semiautonomous Chinese territory’s legislature ahead of today’s debate over changes allowing extradition to the Chinese mainland.
Opponents of legislation that would allow criminal
suspects to be extradited to mainland China started gathering outside the Legislative Council Tuesday night with further demonstrations and labor strikes expected.
Several hundred mostly young people, some singing Christian hymns, have surrounde dt he building that houses the legislature. The demonstrators hope to block or delay passage of the amendments to two extradition laws which they say endanger the territory’s judicial independence and Western-style freedoms.
The government plans to present the amendments to the legislature today, despite a weekend protest by hundreds of thousand so f people that was the territory’s largest political demonstrat ion in more than a decade.
The legislation has become a lightning rod for concerns about Beijing’s increasing
control over the former Br itish colony, which had been promised it would retain its own legal and social institutions for 50 years after its return to Chinese rule in 1997.
Police called in reinforcements and closed off access to the area around the Legislative Council and govern
ment headquarters. Jimmy Sham, convener of the Civil Human Rights Front that organized Sunday’s protest, said his group is prepared to keep fighting to defeat the legislation.
“We will use our people to surround the Legislative Council, starting from tomorrow,” Sham said Tuesday.
Hong Kong’ sl eader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, has consistently defended the legislation as necessary to close legal loopholes with other countries and territories. The legislature’s president, Andrew Leung, has
scheduled a vote on June 20.
Lam, who canceled her regular question and answer session today, said the government has considered concerns from the private sector and altered the bill to improve human rights safeguards. She emphasized
that extradition cases would be decided by Hong Kong courts.
“Even the chief executive could not overrule the court, to say that because (a country) wants this offender, I will surrender,” Lam said.
Ronny Tong Ka-wah, a lawyer and member of Lam’s administration advisory committee, said Sunday’s protest showed a lack of trust in Hong Kong’s administration, partly because Lam was selected by a small number of electors rathe rt han by popular vote. However, China’s patience with Hong Kong’s demands has its limits, Tong said.
“We need to gain the trust and confidence of Beijing so they can allow us the freedom of political reform,” Tong said. “They don’t want to see Hong Kon gasa base of subversion. And I’m sorry, we’re doing exactly that.”
Opponents of the proposed extradition amendments say the changes would
significantly compromise Hong Kong’s legal independence, long viewed as one of the crucial differences between the territory and
mainland China. Hong Kong Bar Association Chair Philip Dykes said a lack of faith in Beijing’s commitment to respecting Hong Kong’s uniques tatus remains a crucial issue.
“The government is asking these people with decades of mistrust suddenly to trust the system and to accept assurances that the (Chinese) mainland will offer that they be honored. And that’s clearly not persuading the people,” Dykes said.
Hong Kong currently limits extraditions to jurisdictions with which it has existing agreements and to others on an individual basis. China has been excluded from those agreements because of concerns over its judicial independence and human rights record.
The proposed amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance would expand the scope of criminal suspect transfers to include Taiwan, Macau and mainland China.
Lam has said the changes are necessary for Hong Kong to uphold justice and meet its international obligations. Without them, she said Hong Kong risks becoming a “fugitive offenders’ haven.” Supporters have pointed to
the case of Chan Tong-kai, a Hong Kong man who admitted to Hong Kong police that he killed his girlfriend during a trip to Taiwan. Because Hong Kong and Taiwan don’t have an extradition agreement, he has not been sent to Taiwan to face charges there, though he has been jailed in Hong Kong on money laundering charges.
Under its “one country, two systems” framework, Hong Kong was guaranteed the right to retain its own social, legal and political systems for 50 years. As a result, residents enjoy far greater freedoms than peo
ple on the mainland, such as the freedom to protest or publicly criticize the government. Nevertheless, the Commu
nist Party exerts influence on the Hong Kong govern
ment. Hong Kong voters cannot directly elect their chief executive. Lam was elected in 2017 by a committee dominated by pro-Beijing elites and is widely seen as the Communist Party’s favored candidate.
Beijing has made substantial efforts in recent years to
integrate Hong Kong with the mainland. Last October, China opened the world’s longest sea-crossing bridge, connecting Hong Kong and Macau to the city of Zhuhai. Those in Hong Kong who
anger China’s central government have come under greater pressure since Chinese President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012.
The detention of several Hong Kong bookseller sin late 2015 intensified worries a bout the erosion of Hong Kong’s rule of law. The booksellers vanished before resurfacing in police custody in mainland China. Among them, Swedish citizen Gui Minhai is currently being investigated on charges of leaking state secrets after hes old gossipy books about Chinese leaders.
In April, nine leaders of a 2014 pro-democracy protest movement known as the “Umbrella Revolution” were convicted on public nuisance and other charges.
In May, Germany confirmed it had granted asylum to two people from Hong Kong who were activists fleeing tightening restrictions at
home. It was the first known case in recent years of a Western government accepting political refugees from Hong Kong.