Senior Macau official raises extradition alarms

Protracted negotiations to establish an extradition agreement between Hong Kong and Macau are facing a new challenge amid fears a final deal could breach international norms and compromise freedoms in both cities.

Concerns have emerged after Macau's top legal official said judicial co-operation should be based on the "one country, two systems'' principle. That could mean it may not follow global extradition deals.

Formal talks to establish a mechanism allowing fugitives from either SAR to be returned to the other have dragged on for two years, despite assurances a year ago by Hong Kong secretary for justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-kuen that negotiations were at a "mature stage''.

The talks over what would be a unique extradition agreement between two cities in the same nation not only face the complexity of three very different legal systems - Hong Kong, Macau and the mainland - they are also mired in top-level, politically sensitive criminal investigations involving senior political figures and businessmen.

Last week, the president of Macau's biggest pro-democracy group, the New Macau Association, expressed concerns over the final agreement. Association president Jason Chao said he was worried that the double criminality rule - which requires the crime a fugitive is accused of to be an offence in both jurisdictions - could be omitted, leading to potential abuses

There are also concerns because Macau has passed national security legislation, which is still a political hot potato in Hong Kong.