Hong Kong was a British colony until it was officially handed over to China in 1997. Since then, the city has operated under “one country, two systems”. [35] Lam denied that the mainland was deliberately excluded from extradition laws before the 1997 capitulation due to fears about the continent`s opaque and politically controlled legal system, or that China agreed to the exclusion. However, Hong Kong`s last colonial governor, Chris Patten, and then-chief secretary Anson Chan claimed that Hong Kong and China knew full well that there had to be a firewall between the different jurisdictions. [36] Patten also warned that the extradition bill would be the “worst” in Hong Kong since the handover in 1997. [37] Malcolm Rifkind, a former British foreign secretary who oversaw the final stage of the handover, also denied that the lack of extradition agreements between Hong Kong and the mainland was “a loophole.” He said that “negotiators from China and the UK have made a conscious decision to create a clear separation between the two systems so that the rule of law remains strong” and that “lawyers and politicians from across the political spectrum in Hong Kong have proposed several viable alternatives that will ensure Chan is brought to justice.” [38] Critics fear that the law could endanger Hong Kong`s judicial system and spell the end of one “country, two systems.” The Hong Kong Watch, based in the United Kingdom, published on the 29th. A petition was signed by 15 parliamentarians from different countries against the extradition bill. Among the signatories were House of Lords Member David Alton, Liberal Democrat Chief Whip in the House of Commons Alistair Carmichael, Alliance 90/Green leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt, Shadow Deputy Foreign Minister in the Canadian Parliament Garnett Genuis, Malaysian MP and Chair of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, Charles Santiago. Josef Weidenholzer, Member of the Austrian European Parliament, seven U.S. Senators and one U.S. representative. [52] On April 28, the movement gained momentum when about 130,000 protesters joined the march against the law; Police estimated that 22,800 people joined at its peak. The claimed turnout was the highest since approximately 510,000 people participated in the annual protests on July 1, 2014.

[65] [66] [67] A day after the protest, Chief Executive Carrie Lam insisted that the bill go into force, saying legislative councils should pass new extradition laws before their summer vacation, even though the man at the center of a case justifying the urgency of new laws, Chan Tong-kai, had recently been jailed for 29 months. The bill was officially withdrawn on October 23. [9] [10] Chan Tong-kai was released from prison the same day. [104] On April 1, Hong Kong billionaire Joseph Lau, former chairman of China`s Estates Holdings, convicted of bribery and money laundering in connection with a land deal in Macau in 2014, filed for judicial review of the bill. Lau`s lawyers asked the court to issue a statement that handing Lau over to Macau would violate the Hong Kong Bill of Rights. [24] Lau abruptly reversed course and dropped his lawsuit on May 29, saying he “loves his country and Hong Kong” and now supports the legislation. [25] Democratic Party MK Andrew Wan filed a motion of no confidence in Carrie Lam on May 29 for “grossly lying” about the extradition bill and misleading the public and the international community, as Lam claimed that colonial officials did not intentionally exclude China from extradition laws prior to the 1997 handover. It was the first no-confidence vote against her since she took office in July 2017. Lam survived the vote with the support of the pro-Beijing majority in the legislature. Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung defended Lam`s record, dismissing the request as “an unnecessary political move.” [47] The Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (Chinese: 2019年逃犯及刑事事宜相互法律協助法例(修訂)條例草案) Bill, 2019 (Chinese: 2019年逃犯及刑事事宜相互法律協助法例(修訂)條例草案) was an extradition bill amending the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance (Chapter 503) with respect to special surrender arrangements and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance (Chapter 525) to provide for mutual legal assistance between Hong Kong and any place outside Hong Kong.

Kong. [2] The bill was proposed by the Hong Kong government in February 2019 to establish a refugee transfer mechanism not only for Taiwan, but also for mainland China and Macau, which are currently excluded from existing laws. [3] The Hong Kong Bar Association issued a statement expressing reservations about the bill, saying the restriction against transfer agreements with mainland China was not a “loophole” but existed given the fundamentally different criminal justice system on the mainland and concerns about the mainland`s track record of protecting fundamental rights. The association also questioned the responsibility of the Chief Executive, as sole arbiter, as to whether a special agreement should be reached with a requesting court without the oversight of the Legislative Council or without expanding the role of the courts in considering extradition requests. [26] Twelve current and former presidents of the Bar Association have warned that “the government`s oft-repeated assertion that judges will be the gatekeepers is misleading” because “the proposed new legislation does not give the Court the power to consider such matters, nor would the Court be able to do so.” [27] “Not only does this bill `undermine` that protection; He puts the protection of rights, which he only belatedly recognized as extremely important to most Hong Kongers, directly into the hands of unelected bureaucrats who have so far shown a pretty poor record of being able or willing to resist pressure from Beijing,” said DeGolyer, who now lives in the United States. to Al Jazeera by email. The opposition has expressed fears that the city will open up to the long arm of mainland Chinese law, putting Hong Kongers at risk of falling victim to another legal system. He therefore urged the government to conclude an extradition agreement only with Taiwan and to terminate the agreement immediately after Khan Tong-kai`s surrender. [14] [17] On June 15, Carrie Lam announced that she would suspend the bill`s second reading without setting a deadline for seeking public opinion.

[83] At that time, however, there was no apology or resignation. [83] The pro-democracy camp demanded a complete withdrawal of the bill and said it would continue the June 16 rally as planned. [84] She said protections have been built into the law, but critics would put people at risk of being extradited to China for political “crimes.” In early 2018, Chan Tong-kai, a 19-year-old Hong Kong resident, murdered his pregnant girlfriend Poon Hiu-wing in Taiwan and then returned to Hong Kong.