Hong Kong’s extradition bill shelved in rare retreat
Protests, pressure effect change, but activists seek more
SINGAPORE — A sense of futility pervaded throngs of protesters last week in Hong Kong. Many said they chose to demonstrate out of principle, not because they believed they could prevent the passing of an extradition bill that would have left them largely at the mercy of the authoritarian government in Beijing.
Then the unthinkable happened. On Saturday, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced that the proposed legislation she spent months championing would be suspended indefinitely.
The groundswell of resistance, it appears, was too large to ignore.
“There’s a sense of victory that at least we were able to stop it for now,” said Fernando Cheung, a legislator for the opposition Labor Party who is still calling for the bill to be withdrawn.
The reversal suggests there are limits to how much Beijing can encroach on Hong Kong’s autonomy despite years of threats and official impunity — including the disappearances of booksellers and the abduction of a mainland billionaire from a luxury hotel by Chinese state security.
The bill, which would have amended a law to allow Hong Kong to send people to China for trial, sparked fears of losses to freedom of speech and assembly — rights guaranteed under Hong Kong’s constitution for 50 years after Britain returned the former colony to China in 1997.
Lam’s proposed legislation was so unpopular that roughly 1 in 7 people in the city of 7 million were estimated to have attended peaceful demonstrations on June 9.
From t h e re, pressure mounted on Lam, who said the amendments were needed to close a loophole that protects fugitives in Hong Kong.
On Wednesday, mass demonstrations outside the government’s headquarters descended into chaos and violence, leaving Hong Kong’s financial district shrouded in tear gas in a scene reminiscent of the 2014 Umbrella Movement. Protesters, journalists and police were injured in the melee and charges were leveled at the police of excessive force. On Friday, thousands of mothers staged a sit-in demanding the safety of the city’s youth and an end to the proposed bill.
Perhaps more important in the ultra-capitalistic territory, members of Hong Kong’s business community turned on Lam. Reports of tycoons shifting capital out of the city to rival financial centers including Singapore sent a signal that even the rich and powerful were worried about their futures in Hong Kong — particularly because the bill allowed China to request a suspect’s assets in Hong Kong be frozen or seized.
“We welcome the government’s decision to suspend resumption of the second reading of the extradition bill, which will allow things to cool down and let everyone return to rational debate,” Aron Harilela, chairman of the city’s biggest business group, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, told the South China Morning Post.
Hong Kong’s special status with the United States was also jeopardized by the extradition bill. Amid a worsening trade war with China, U.S. congressional lawmakers threatened to reintroduce a bill that would strip trade privileges from Hong Kong if they deemed it insufficiently autonomous from China.
T h e g rowi n g c r i s i s prompted more calls for Lam to step down. It was against this backdrop that Lam made her announcement Saturday standing in front of a wall-sized picture of Hong Kong’s iconic skyline.
Lam, a longtime civil servant picked by Beijing two years ago to lead Hong Kong, was unapologetic and said opposition to the bill was the result of her failure to persuade people that there was nothing to fear about the amendment.
“My relevant colleagues and I have made our best efforts, but I have to admit that our explanation and communication work has not been sufficient or effective,” she said.
Lam deflected questions about resigning and denied that the decision to suspend the bill was aimed at placating residents on the eve of another mass protest planned for Sunday.
Lam also refused to say if she met with members of China’s central government.
China’s central government released a statement Saturday saying it supported Lam’s decision.
Activists and opposition lawmakers were furious that Lam was unapologetic and that she praised the work of police despite charges of extreme force.
“Carrie Lam really has a talent for agitating the public,” said Cheung, the Labor Party legislator.