Influential Hong Kong business body calls for extra safeguards in government’s controversial extradition bill

Three extra layers of safeguards should be introduced to Hong Kong’s contentious extradition bill as those in place do not go far enough, one of the city’s most influential business groups told the security chief on Monday.

The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce made its stance clear after a closed-door meeting with Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu over the proposed legislative amendments, which would allow criminal suspects to be sent back to mainland China.

The bill, set to resume its second reading on June 12, has faced immense opposition from pan-democrats, businesspeople and foreign countries.

“Members remain concerned about the process and whether safeguards are adequate,” chamber chairman Aron Harilela said. “We also see persistent concerns expressed by the general community and the legal profession.”

The bill would allow the transfer of fugitives from Hong Kong to jurisdictions with which the city does not have an extradition treaty.

Harilela said the chamber had urged Lee to raise the threshold by allowing extraditions only for offences punishable by jail terms of at least seven years rather than three years as proposed, and to make it clear that rendition requests from the mainland would only be accepted if they came from the central government.