2019 Hong Kong extradition bill
[2] The bill was proposed by the Hong Kong government in February 2019 to establish a mechanism for transfers of fugitives not only for Taiwan, but also for Mainland China and Macau, which are currently excluded in the existing laws.
Largely, this fear is attributed to China's newfound ability through this bill to arrest voices of political dissent in Hong Kong.
On 9 June, protesters estimated to number from hundreds of thousands to more than a million marched in the streets and called for Chief Executive Carrie Lam to step down.
[6] Ongoing protests called for a complete withdrawal of the bill and subsequently the implementation of universal suffrage, which is promised in the Basic Law.
On 4 September, after 13 weeks of protests, Lam officially promised to withdraw the bill upon the resumption of the legislative session from its summer recess.
[11][12] The pro-Beijing flagship party Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) chairwoman Starry Lee and legislator Holden Chow pushed for a change to the extradition law in 2019 using the murder case as rationale.
[14] Chen Zhimin, Zhang Xiaoming, and Han Zheng of the PRC publicly supported the change and stated that 300 fugitives were living in Hong Kong.
525):[16] Opposition expressed fears that the city would open itself up to the long arm of mainland Chinese law, putting people from Hong Kong at risk of falling victim to a different legal system.
The situation was similar to the 2017 Chief Executive Election, in which the business sectors were requested to support Carrie Lam under the pressure from the Beijing's Authority.
[23] On 1 April, Hong Kong billionaire tycoon Joseph Lau, former chair of the Chinese Estates Holdings who was convicted of bribery and money laundering in a land deal in Macau in 2014, applied for a judicial review over the bill in court.
"[27] Three senior judges and twelve leading commercial and criminal lawyers called the bill "one of the starkest challenges to Hong Kong's legal system" in a Reuters report.
The Law Society recommended a proposal to specifically cover the current Taiwan murder case to be made if the government wanted to transfer the suspect soon.
He added that Taiwanese people feared to end up like Lee Ming-che, a democracy activist who disappeared on a trip to the Chinese mainland and was later jailed for "subverting state power".
[37] Malcolm Rifkind, former British Foreign Secretary who oversaw the final stages of the handover, also denied that the lack of extradition arrangements between Hong Kong and the Mainland was "a loophole".
He stated that "negotiators from both China and the UK made a conscious decision to create a clear divide between the two systems so that the rule of law remains robust", and that "lawyers and politicians from across the political spectrum in Hong Kong have proposed multiple other viable solutions which will ensure that Chan faces justice".
[38] More than 167,000 students, alumni and teachers from all public universities and hundreds of secondary schools in Hong Kong, including St. Francis' Canossian College which Carrie Lam attended, also launched online petitions against the extradition bill in a snowballing campaign.
Even the alumni, students, and teachers at St. Stephen's College, which the victim in the Taiwan homicide case Poon Hiu-wing attended, petitioned against the extradition bill.
[40] High Court judge Patrick Li Hon-leung's signature was spotted on a petition signed by nearly 3,000 fellow University of Hong Kong alumni.
At the same time, a delegation led by former pro-democrat legislator Martin Lee met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who later released statement that he "expressed concern" that the bill could threaten the city's rule of law.
[50][51] Also on 24 May, eight commissioners from the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, Steve Daines from the U.S. Senate, as well as James McGovern, Ben McAdams, Christopher Smith, Thomas Suozzi and Brian Mast from the U.S. House of Representatives wrote to Chief Executive Carrie Lam asking that the bill be "withdrawn from consideration", stating that "the proposed legislation would irreparably damage Hong Kong's cherished autonomy and protections for human rights by allowing the Chinese government to request extradition of business persons, journalists, rights advocates, and political activists residing in Hong Kong."
[54][55] On 13 August, Andrew James Scheer PC MP, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition since 2017, shared the statement "As Beijing amasses troops at the Hong Kong border, now is the time for everyone committed to democracy, freedom, human rights, and the rule of law to stand with the people of Hong Kong, including the 300,000 ex-pat Canadians.
The Bar Association said in response to the concessions that the additional safeguards provided by the government was "riddled with uncertainties ...[and that it] offers scarcely any reliable assurances.
[77][non-primary source needed] Around 11 am, the Legislative Council Secretariat announced that the second reading debate on the extradition bill had been postponed indefinitely.
[80] Many videos of aggressive police action appeared online, showing tear gas canisters being fired at peaceful and unarmed protesters, first-aid volunteers,[81] and even reporters.
On 15 June, Carrie Lam announced that it would suspend the second reading of the bill without a set a time frame on the seeking of public views.
[85] While the police said that there were 338,000 demonstrators at its peak on the original route,[86] the Civil Human Rights Front claimed the participation of "almost 2 million plus 1 citizens", denoting the protester who committed suicide the day before.
[87][88][89][90][91] The government issued a statement at 8:30 pm where Carrie Lam apologised to Hong Kong residents and promised to "sincerely and humbly accept all criticism and to improve and serve the public.
Pro-Beijing newspaper Sing Tao Daily reported that Lam went to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng in Shenzhen on 14 June evening.
[96] As the city marked the 22nd anniversary of its 1997 handover, the annual pro-democracy protest march organised by civil rights groups claimed a record turnout of 550,000 while police placed the estimate around 190,000.
Separately, hundreds of young protesters stormed the Legislative Council and defaced symbols associated with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and pro-Beijing elements inside the building.
