HK ‘needs rendition law amendments’
Tuesday,May 28,2019,11:27
By Joseph Li in Hong Kong
Lawyer Kennedy Wong Ying-ho said he supports amendments to the city’s extradition lawto plug existing legal loopholes,explaining that such changes are better late than never.
Wong,who is also a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference,recalled that some people had committed serious crimes in Hong Kong and then fled to Taiwan. But Hong Kong police could do nothing due to a lack of mutual rendition agreements.
Wong remembered that a few years ago,Hong Kong tycoon Joseph Lau Luen-hung was convicted of bribing a top government official in Macao,but Lau remains in Hong Kong,apparently unconcerned about the matter. “It is strange that he enjoys life in Hong Kong while the special administrative regions are just an hour apart with the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge now in operation,”Wong told China Daily in an exclusive interview.
Hong Kong is an international city and it can in no way become a haven for fugitive offenders.
Kennedy Wong Ying-ho, Member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and former lawmaker
Hong Kong has signed permanent extradition agreements with 20 jurisdictions. If amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance are passed,Hong Kong can handle the rendition of fugitive offenders in and out of Hong Kong with the remaining 150 jurisdictions on a case-by-case basis. In the absence of such agreements,each application has to be discussed in the Legislative Council. LegCo can do nothing else if there are many applications while the offenders will be alerted,Wong said.
He believes many mainland residents fled to Hong Kong with huge sums of money,with some having obtained Hong Kong identity cards.
“Hong Kong is an international city and it can in no way become a haven for fugitive offenders,”he said. “Even the Chinese mainland and Taiwan entered mutual legal assistance in criminal matters during the Ma Ying-jeou administration. There is no reason why Hong Kong cannot enter similar agreements with the mainland,Macao and Taiwan.”
He noted that the opposition camp in Hong Kong opposed the law amendmentsand used the opportunity to vilify legal and judicial systems on the Chinese mainland. But Wong said mutual legal assistance had little to do with legal or human rights situations in the reciprocal jurisdictions.
“For example,the United States has entered into such agreements with South American countries,while Britain has mutual assistance agreements with 90 jurisdictions,including Iraq,and the judicial and human rights situations in those countries are certainly not as robust as in the Western countries,’’he said.
“Even Canada and the US have signed extradition arrangements with China. Otherwise,Canada could not have deported Lai Changxing,of the high-profile Yuan Hua Group case,back to China.”
‘Force behind opposition’
Wong further slammed the opposition camp for being manipulated by external forces. They were opposing the extradition law amendment at a time of global tensions due to the Sino-US trade dispute.
“It seems that a very huge force is behind the opposition camp,”he said. Wong noted that people from different parts of the opposition camp recently went to see US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
They call themselves ‘democrats’, but I don’t see them respecting the spirit of democracy that matters should be put to vote and the minority should obey the majority ...
Kennedy Wong Ying-ho
“After the 2014 illegal ‘Occupy Central’protests,the opposition camp has become fragmented;this time,external forces are bringing them together,”Wong observed.
“Since the opposition camp has lost both by-elections in the West Kowloon constituency of the Legislative Council,they are planning a comeback in the 2020 general election. This time around,younger people from the opposition camp are more radical and aggressive.”
Wong,who is a former lawmaker,said it was outrageous that opposition legislators failed to elect a bills committee chairman over two meetings of four hours. This was followed by very disruptive behavior at two subsequent bills committee meetings.
“It is no harm presenting the amendment bill straight to the full Legislative Council meetingbecause this complies with the Rules of Procedure,”Wong said.
“A bills committee is normally a good platform for discussing the bill. But in recent months,the bill has been thoroughly discussed in society. The government is still receiving opinions on the bill while legislators can also move amendments to the bill.
“The opposition camp demands a bills committee because they can make troubles at the bills committee meetings. At a full LegCo meeting,they have little room to make trouble and filibuster because the LegCo president has far greater powers to combat disruption and filibusters.
“They call themselves ‘democrats’,but I don’t see them respecting the spirit of democracy that matters should be put to vote and the minority should obey the majority. Even though they blame the system as unfair,the system was already there when they entered the election. If they are unhappy with the system,they should resign.”
