[3][4][5] According to court documents, the victim Amber Poon Hiu-wing and the accused suspect Chan Tong-kai met in July 2017 while working part-time for the same company.

[3][6] On the morning of 17 February, Chan disposed of Poon's belongings in garbage bins around the hotel—though keeping her ATM card, her digital camera, and her iPhone—and dragged the suitcase (with the body inside) into the Taipei Metro.

Even with Chan's confession, the Hong Kong police could not prosecute him on murder or manslaughter charges since they did not have jurisdiction over crimes committed outside the city under the territorial principle.

[10] The Taiwan High Prosecutors Office asked the Hong Kong government for mutual legal assistance three times in the span of six months from mid to late 2018 but received no response.

525) to establish a mechanism for case-by-case transfers of fugitives, on the order of the chief executive, to any jurisdiction with which the city lacks a formal extradition treaty.

Pro-democracy advocates fear the removal of the separation of the region's jurisdiction from mainland Chinese laws administered by the Communist Party, thereby eroding the "one country, two systems" principle in practice since the 1997 handover.

[11][12] Taipei reacted to the proposed bill with cynicism, with Chiu Chui-cheng, deputy minister of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, questioning whether Hong Kong government's legislation was "politically motivated" using the homicide case as an "excuse".

On 9 June, protesters estimated to number from hundreds of thousands to more than a million marched in the streets and called for the bill to be withdrawn and for Chief Executive Carrie Lam to step down.

[20] Subsequent protests expanded their goals to include demands for investigations on allegations of police brutality and electoral reform, spread to different districts throughout the city, and continued well into 2020.

[22][23] On 23 October Secretary for Security John Lee announced the government's formal withdrawal of the bill,[24][25] coincidentally on the same day as Chan Tong-kai's release from prison.

On the other hand, the statement said Chan expressed willingness to surrender himself to Taiwanese authorities, and has asked the Hong Kong government to help make proper arrangements.

[26] Taiwan initially refused this arrangement, citing the need to have a judicial assistance agreement with Hong Kong so it can obtain key documents relating to the case.

In addition, the Taiwanese government under the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) expressed scepticism at Chan's willingness to surrender, suspecting it to be a Chinese ploy to dilute Taiwan's claim to self-rule by denying it a formal channel to negotiate with Hong Kong.

[27] It is suspected that Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen, who had long supported the protesters in Hong Kong against the extradition bill, was sensitive to issues relating to sovereignty as the 2020 Taiwan presidential elections drew close.

[29] On the day of his release on 23 October, Chan apologised to Poon Hiu-wing's family and the Hong Kong society in general, obliquely referring to the unrest that he ultimately caused in the city, and asked for forgiveness.

[34] Lee, Chow, Chris Tang, and Raymond Siu all declined to meet with Poon's mother when she invited them to join her for a press conference.