Josh Weiner
The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, announced on (15th) that the Hong Kong Government decided to suspend the amendment of the fugitive offenders Ordinance. Regarding the reasons for the suspension of the law, she said that since Taiwan has indicated that it will not accept the transfer of Chen Tongjia suspected of killing people in Taiwan under the existing amendments, the urgency of the amendments no longer exists.
In this regard, the Taiwan Presidential Office stated that the Hong Kong Government’s pretext for violating human rights legislation on the grounds of Taiwan-related cases is irresponsible and lacking in morality and cannot be recognized. Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Wu Hao also responded by blaming Taiwan for being immoral, shameful and unacceptable.
Ding Yungong, spokesman of the Taiwanese presidential palace, said in the evening that Taiwan is highly concerned and supports the Hong Kong people’s desire to pursue freedom, democracy and human rights.
He said that the Hong Kong Government should recognize the goal of ensuring the freedom and democracy of the people of Hong Kong and seriously look at and respond to the expectations of Hong Kong residents to choose the life and system they aspire to.
Ding Yun-kung said that as for the Hong Kong Government’s pretext for violating human rights legislation, it is unreasonable and unethical. It is incredible. “We cannot agree.”
Wu Hao said that blaming Taiwan is “immoral, shameful and unacceptable”. He also called for embracing democracy and standing on the right side of history.
According to previous reports, the spokesman of the Mainland Affairs Council, Mr. Qiu Chengzheng, stressed in May that he would not negotiate with the Hong Kong Government under the premise of the revision of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance; even if the amendments were passed, the threat of going to Hong Kong or Hong Kong people to be transferred to mainland China was not ruled out. The Taiwanese government will not agree to the transfer of the female murder case in Hong Kong.
In February last year, after Hong Kong boy Chen Tongjia was suspected of killing Pan’s girlfriend in Taiwan and fleeing to Hong Kong, the Taiwanese government repeatedly requested the Hong Kong side to provide mutual legal assistance to repatriate Chen Tongjia to Taiwan for trial, but has not received a positive response. The Hong Kong Security Bureau has proposed amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance. It is recommended that the Hong Kong Government adopt a “one-off case method” to deal with the surrender of fugitives in Taiwan, the Mainland and Macao. However, the amendments caused great controversy in the Hong Kong society, which triggered the large-scale parade on June 9 and the fierce police-civil conflict on June 12.
