Taipei will not agree to transfer of Hong Kong murder suspect if Taiwanese citizens risk being sent to mainland China
- ‘Our government cannot ignore damages to the human rights of our nationals,’ Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council deputy minister says
- Comments come hours after Chief Executive Carrie Lam slams pan-democrats for ‘talking trash’ in their opposition to contentious extradition bill
Taipei has said it will not agree to the transfer of a murder suspect if Hong Kong’s controversial extradition proposal puts Taiwanese citizens at risk of being sent to mainland China.
The comments of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council came hours after Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor slammed pan-democrats at the Legislative Council on Thursday for “talking trash” in their opposition to the bill.
Officials had stressed the urgency of passing the bill – which would allow the transfer of fugitives to places with which the city does not have an extradition agreement – so they could send Hongkonger Chan Tong-kai to face charges related to the murder of his girlfriend in Taiwan last year.
The bill has sparked concerns among the pro-democracy camp, human rights groups, the business sector, Taiwan and some foreign powers that anyone, including travellers in Hong Kong, could be caught and transferred to mainland China for political reasons or inadvertent business offences.
The council, which is in charge of dealings with mainland China, said there would be no transfer even if the bill passed as long as the concerns were not addressed.
“Without the removal of threats to the personal safety of [Taiwan] nationals going to or living in Hong Kong caused by being extradited to mainland China, we will not agree to the case-by-case transfer proposed by the Hong Kong authorities,” the council’s deputy minister Chiu Chui-cheng said.