Pan-democrat lawmakers protest against the government’s proposal to amend Hong Kong’s extradition law to allow the transfer of fugitives to the mainland, Taiwan and Macau. Photo: Winson Wong
Source:
https://scmp.com/comment/letters/article/2189535/chinas-legal-system-good-enough-extradition-agreement-hong-kong Letters
China’s legal system is good enough for an extradition agreement with Hong Kong
- A one-off agreement with Taiwan to avoid dealing with the mainland would undermine the rule of law in Hong Kong
Guangdong provincial police prepare to hand over a fugitive to their counterparts in Hong Kong at the Huanggang port in Shenzhen in December 2018. Photo: Hong Kong Police
Dennis Kwok knows that the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance do not apply to the mainland, Macau or Taiwan, but he now advocates a one-off legislative amendment to enable a Hongkonger to be extradited to Taiwan to face trial for the alleged murder of his girlfriend, so as to avoid entering into a wider agreement that would enable the extradition of criminals also to the mainland (“Proposed extradition agreement threatens our freedom”, March 8).
He obviously thinks Taiwan has made sufficient progress on the rule of law and always fairly brings criminals to trial and thus deserves this preferential treatment, but not the mainland, where he seems to think the authorities never bring criminals to justice in good faith but that every case involves a miscarriage of justice.
No, Mr Kwok, that is not the case on the mainland. Law and order prevails enough on the mainland to have made it possible for China to become the second-greatest economic power in the world. Meanwhile, last year Macau’s per capita gross domestic product was the second-highest in the world, behind Qatar and ahead of even Luxembourg. Mr Kwok’s one-off arrangement would soon become many-offs, making a mockery of the rule of law.
I agree with the secretary for security’s proposal to come to an extradition agreement that covers the mainland, Taiwan and Macau. No extraditions would take place without being filtered by the Hong Kong authorities anyway.
A criminal does not deserve the sort of freedom that is so much abused in Hong Kong as to leave the gang leaders of the 2014 79-day Occupy movement roaming free now over four years later.
Peter Lok, Heng Fa Chuen