Amcham Urges More Changes To Extradition Proposals

The American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham) has called on the government to further narrow down its proposed new extradition arrangements, saying the amended version will also "reduce the appeal of Hong Kong to international companies" considering the city as a base.

The association said it welcomes the response of the government, which acknowledged concerns raised by the business sector and removed nine white-collar offences from the new legislation earlier this week.

"However, as residents of Hong Kong and representatives of the international business community here, we continue to have serious concerns about the revised proposal," it said.

The chamber said the new arrangements could be used for rendition "to a number of jurisdictions with criminal procedure systems very different from that of Hong Kong – which provides strong protections for the legitimate rights of defendants".

The powerful business group also called on the government to "consider alternative, more narrowly tailored means to address any truly urgent extradition-related issues facing the Hong Kong".

The Carrie Lam administration mooted the idea to amend the ordinances to enable the government to arrange one-off extradition deals with places Hong Kong doesn't have a formal treaty with. Officials highlighted the case of a murder suspect wanted in Taiwan as a reason for their proposal.