Leung suggested the only way forward was for the Legislative Council to get moving on the bill, regardless of fears expressed by Western governments and local opposition politicians, along with the business community, that Beijing’s critics or political targets could be victimised if proper safeguards were not built into it through proper scrutiny.

Given the deadlock in Legco over following usual procedure and letting a bills committee vet the proposal, Leung said, the government’s push to put it to a vote before the full council was now the best way forward.

She said all their fears would prove unfounded, just as those over the “co-location” joint immigration and customs arrangement at the West Kowloon terminus for the express rail link to the mainland subsided after its implementation in September last year.

Hong Kong leader stakes credibility on extradition bill, but impasse continues

Leung rolled out a list of cases in which countries such as the US and Canada, which have not signed extradition agreements with China, had surrendered fugitive offenders to Beijing in recent years.

“If countries which respect the rule of law and human rights find it acceptable to surrender offenders to China, why can’t Hong Kong do it?” she said.

Leung, who served as justice minister from 1997 to 2005, said the matter boiled down to some Western countries not understanding why it was necessary to amend the extradition law and allow the case-by-case transfer of suspects to jurisdictions with which the city has no formal agreement on transfers.

The government is insisting the bill is necessary to plug a legal loophole that has allowed a local suspect wanted in Taiwan over his girlfriend’s murder to escape prosecution by fleeing to Hong Kong, which cannot extradite him to the self-ruled island.

The existing extradition law excludes “other parts of the People’s Republic of China”, referring to the mainland, Macau and Taiwan.

Shock waves over top legal scholar’s call for extradition bill changes

Leung said dealing separately with Taiwan to settle the case while leaving the broader extradition law debate for later was not possible.

“You need changes to law as a basis for handling requests for extradition,” said Leung, also an expert in the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.

And she brushed off concerns among Western investors over Beijing’s intentions in relation to Sabrina Meng’s case.

“Those fears are unfounded. Sabrina Meng’s case is being pursued for political purposes,” Leung said. “Hong Kong courts would refuse the applications for surrendering fugitives for political reasons.”

Kurt Tong, the US consul general in Hong Kong, said earlier this month that concern was palpable among the business community and expatriates over the extradition bill.

Amid the ongoing trade war, there is concern that the city could be punished by means of potential changes to the US-Hong Kong Policy Act, under which it is treated differently from the rest of China in terms of trade, diplomacy and politics. A report commissioned by the US Congress late last year recommended a review of certain arrangements under the deal, which was enacted in 1992 based on the principles of the Sino-British Joint Declaration before the handover of Hong Kong to China.

Hong Kong will not transfer political fugitives, justice minister says

The special status has provided much-needed shelter for Hong Kong from tit-for-tat tariffs that the US and China have levied on each other.

But Leung noted that Hong Kong would not be the only party to suffer if the arrangement were overturned.

“If there is any damage, it would be mutual. The damage would not be just for Hong Kong but for the US,” Leung said. “We are not just getting the benefits – it’s a free-trade arrangement which is good for both sides.”

Last year, Washington recorded a trade surplus of US$31.1 billion (HK$244.1 billion) with Hong Kong, its largest bilateral trade surplus worldwide.

Hong Kong is also useful to the US in its counterterrorism efforts, helping Washington to block funding, fight money laundering and enforce sanctions. The two sides also help each other in law enforcement.

The former chief justice and staunch Beijing loyalist was not worried about the uncertainty ahead.

“Hong Kong has gone through ups and downs and we survived each time stronger than before,” she said.

Last Friday, Legco’s House Committee voted in favour of allowing the government to put the bill to the full council for deliberation on June 12, bypassing the usual clause-by-clause scrutiny by a bills committee.

“Look at the co-location arrangement: there were very strong objections to it,” Leung said.

“After the bill was passed and the arrangement was implemented last year, people travelled on the express rail and nothing happened. You can only let time prove it.”

Asked whether the government would have to pay a heavy political price for pressing ahead with the bill, Leung said: “For the past 22 years, we have paid a great price. If each time people object to something you withdraw it, the government cannot function.”

Fugitive offenders transferred to China in recent years

July 2011 Businessman Lai Changxing, one of China’s most wanted fugitives, was extradited to China after 12 years living in Canada and was sentenced to life imprisonment for corruption the following year

February 2015 Italy surrendered to China a woman surnamed Zhang for embezzlement of customers’ securities accounts worth more than 1.4 million yuan (US$202,852)

September 2016 France surrendered a person surnamed Chen for illegally obtaining public funds of over 20 million yuan

July 2018 The United States repatriated Xu Chaofan, former head of the Kaiping sub-branch of the Bank of China (BOC) in Guangdong, to China. He had conspired with two other senior executives of the BOC in Kaiping to embezzle US$485 million from the bank. He fled to the US in 2001 and was transferred as a sentenced person to serve the remainder of his sentence in China