Hong Kong, China, and the USA in the Age of Trump

American Thinker ^ | 06/21/2019 | Michael Curtis

[SeekAndFind]

President Donald Trump is due to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Osaka of 19 countries and the E.U. on June 28–29, 2019, focusing on international co-operation for economic growth. No doubt, the main conversation will be on economic issues. But a new issue must not be neglected: the remarkable large demonstrations in Hong Kong, an area of 426 square miles with a highly literate population of 7.4 million, in June 2019 against attempts at erosion of the rights of citizens and for protection against mainland China.

The issue is significant for two reasons: it indicates sharply for Western policymakers the contrast between the Chinese dictatorial system and the relative freedom and autonomy of Hong Kong. Also, the Hong Kong incident may affect negotiations between the U.S. and China on trade and the U.S. presence, since there are an estimated 85,000 U.S. citizens and more than 1,300 U.S. companies in Hong Kong. The fear is that the H.K. business environment will be damaged.

It's the story of a very unfortunate Hong Kong chief executive, Carrie Lam, who made a serious blunder and will have years of privilege if not her official position taken away from her. Lam, a devout Catholic, partly educated at Cambridge University, had been chosen as head of the system in 2017 by a Hong Kong electoral college and officially appointed by China. Thus, she has a double responsibility and accountability, to both H.K. and China.

Hong Kong has bilateral extradition treaties with 20 countries, including the U.S. H.K. executive Lam proposed legislation extending extradition to territories, including China, with which Hong Kong has no formal extradition treaty.

[SeekAndFind]

For those who want to understand the background of this protest, here it is in a nutshell:

In early 2018, 19-year-old Hong Kong resident Chan Tong-kai allegedly killed his pregnant girlfriend Poon Hiu-wing in Taiwan, proceeding to return to Hong Kong. Chan admitted to Hong Kong police that he killed Poon but the police were unable to charge him for murder or extradite him to Taiwan because no agreement is in place.

Until May 2019, the two ordinances in Hong Kong, the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance, were not applicable to the requests for surrender of fugitive offenders and mutual legal assistance between Hong Kong and Taiwan.

In February 2019, the government proposed changes to fugitive laws, establishing a mechanism for case-by-case transfers of fugitives by the Hong Kong Chief Executive to any jurisdiction with which the city lacks a formal extradition treaty, which it claimed would close the "legal loophole".

Opposition expressed fears about the legislation that the city would open itself up to the long arm of mainland Chinese law and that people from Hong Kong fall victim to a different legal system.

It therefore urged the government to establish an extradition arrangement with Taiwan only, and to sunset the arrangement immediately after the surrender of Chan Tong-kai.

The problem was, the HK legislature REFUSED this request and decided that it wanted a more comprehensive bill including extradition to CHINA.

[tet68]

Wouldn’t having a treaty with Taiwan only, indicate Taiwan’s independence as a state?

A lot of difficulties here.