My Take | Extradition bill a step too far for Carrie Lam
- Hong Kong’s chief executive may have bitten off more than she can chew by proposing a law to send fugitives to Taiwan, Macau and even the mainland
The chief executive and her government have done so well when it comes to enforcing public order and security – until now.
Unlike her three predecessors, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has shown that you can ban a political party, kick out a foreign journalist, bar radicals from entering local elections, and jail rioters by the dozens even if they claim to be dissidents or protesters. All these were done without the need to enact laws against treason, secession, sedition and subversion under Article 23 of the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.
Beijing has been impressed. Now, though, the proposed extradition law for the transfer of fugitives to the mainland, Taiwan and Macau has hit a brick wall. Whatever its merits or demerits, it has managed to unify the fractured opposition bloc, human rights groups, foreign business interests and even the local business community and its representatives in the legislature.
Sunday saw thousands hitting the streets to protest against the extradition plan. Organisers claimed 12,000 took part in the rally, which would make it the biggest public demonstration since last year’s annual July 1 march, but police put the figure at 5,200 at its peak. This came even after the government caved in to pressure from the local business sector by withdrawing nine commercial crimes from the proposed list of 46 extraditable offences. The concession may have satisfied the pro-business and pro-government bloc in the legislature, but the opposition senses blood and will not let go so easily.
Pro-democracy icon Anson Chan Fang On-sang has flown to Washington to denounce the plan, along with opposition lawmakers Charles Mok and Dennis Kwok. The trio seem oblivious to the supreme irony of appealing to a country that has set up Guantanamo Bay and operates global rendition and extradition programmes targeting suspected terrorists and foreigners accused of crimes under American laws.
It may seem strange that cities such as Macau and Hong Kong can’t exchange suspects with each other or the mainland. But clearly, whatever safeguards are proposed – whether enhanced scrutiny by Hong Kong courts or guarantees against extraditing those suspected of political “crimes” on the mainland – will not satisfy the opposition. By exempting nine commercial crimes, Lam has reportedly upset mainland officials. Now she can’t water down the proposed bill further without giving up the plan altogether.