Hijacked in Hong Kong Now Beijing wants to extradite dissenters for trial in China.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/hijacked-in-hong-kong-11554506196
A sad fact is that bad behavior that would be condemned in any other part of the world is ignored in China because the large Chinese market makes people think twice before speaking the obvious. So kudos to the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and their business allies for speaking up against a proposal to let the territory start extraditing people China wants to put on trial.
Last month AmCham noted the proposal threatens Hong Kong’s reputation as a “secure haven for international business.” No extradition arrangement exists because no one in his right mind trusts the Chinese justice system, and with good reason. In 2015 five Hong Kong men associated with a local shop that carried books critical of high-ranking Communist leaders went missing, only to resurface in China—where they then appeared on state TV making “confessions.” At least one, Gui Minhai, remains under detention in China.
The extradition demand clearly violates China’s promise of autonomy for Hong Kong for 50 years through 2047. Though the Hong Kong government has slightly modified its proposals by narrowing the crimes for which someone could be extradited, it is still bending to the mainland. AmCham says it still has “serious concerns,” and so do many others. Despite the many expressions of concern, the government introduced the bill Wednesday.
This past weekend thousands of Hong Kong people turned out for a march against the extradition proposal. They know that next on Beijing’s list is a national security law on treason, sedition, secession and subversion that would likely gut speech rights in Hong Kong.
In pushing for its extradition amendment, Beijing apologists are capitalizing on a recent tragedy in Taiwan. There a Hong Kong man is accused of murdering his Hong Kong girlfriend during a visit. Because Hong Kong lacks an extradition agreement with Taiwan, the suspect has not been sent to Taiwan for trial. But there are ways to address this case without throwing out a protection vital to Hong Kong’s viability as a commercial center.
That vitality is in America’s interests, as Congress understood in 1992 when it passed the U.S.-Hong Kong Policy Act aimed at ensuring the territory’s autonomy is respected. In its latest report released last Thursday, the State Department reported that the “tempo” of mainland China’s interference is increasing, including political restrictions that may be diminishing “fundamental freedoms” and “straining the confidence of the international business community.”
AmCham was right to raise its voice, but Western political leaders should also be willing to speak up about China’s creeping betrayal of its promise to Hong Kong of “one country, two systems.”
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