Legco showdown looms as Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing camp tries to control extradition bill process with bid to unseat committee chairman

In response to the pan-democrats’ filibuster, the pro-establishment bloc requested the House Committee – which will hold a four-hour special meeting on Saturday – unseat its chairman

But veteran Democrat James To is ready to resist

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Activists attend a protest in Hong Kong on April 28 against a controversial move by the government to allow extraditions to mainland China. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:00am, 2 May 2019Updated: 8:43am, 2 May 2019

Hong Kong’s legislature may descend deeper into chaos as uncertainty looms over a pro-establishment camp plan to regain control of the extradition proposal process, which their rivals have been trying to drag out.

A former Legislative Council secretary general and the former chairwoman of the House Committee were at odds on Wednesday over whether the Beijing loyalists could unseat veteran Democrat James To Kun-sun from leading the committee that scrutinises the contentious bill – a plan that To is ready to resist.

The pan-democrats and their conservative rivals locked horns in the first two meetings of the committee, with the pan-democrats successfully stalling a debate of the bill without even electing a chairman.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has stressed the “absolute urgency” of passing the bill in time to extradite Hongkonger Chan Tong-kai, 20. Chan is wanted in Taiwan over the murder of his girlfriend, but could be released as early as October after he was jailed for 29 months on a related money laundering charge by the High Court on Monday.

Lawmaker James To at the Legislative Council. Photo: Felix Wong

The passage of the bill would allow the transfer of fugitives to any jurisdictions the city lacks an extradition deal with, including Taiwan and mainland China.

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