Extradition Pact Worries Just Wild Imagination: CE

The Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, has defended the government's plan to change rendition laws to make it easier to hand over fugitives to other jurisdictions, dismissing some of the worries over the proposal as "wild imagination".

She said the changes were aimed at plugging a loophole in current laws and helping the family of a Hong Kong woman who was allegedly killed by her boyfriend in Taipei last year.

The young man came back to Hong Kong after the alleged killing, but the SAR government could not hand him over to Taiwan authorities under current laws.

Lam said she could not be indifferent to the woman's parents, who have written to her five times for help.

She said the changes should be carried out within a time limit, if the government wants to help the family.

"Anyone who has read their letters would want to help them. So if we continue to be petty-minded and consult the public slowly, I'm afraid we can't tackle this special case," she said.

Under the proposal, the Hong Kong government would adopt a one-off, case-by-case approach to the handing over of fugitives to jurisdictions with which Hong Kong has not got an extradition agreement, including the mainland and Taiwan.

Critics have expressed concern that the proposal legal changes may be abused, for example, political dissidents in Hong Kong may be surrendered to the mainland.

But Lam said people should not be over-worried, as lawmakers would scrutinise the proposed changes before they're implemented.