Extradition 'threatens HK Success And Prosperity'

Lawmakers including a US senator and the head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' human rights body have written to Chief Executive Carrie Lam to urge her to consider withdrawing her proposed amendments to the extradition law.

"We are all friends of Hong Kong and believe that the city’s success and prosperity is a direct result of its robust rule of law and guaranteed freedoms," they wrote.

"The existing extradition legislation helps to safeguard the rule of law by ensuring that there is a clear firewall between the two diverging legal systems of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the People’s Republic of China."

They acknowledged the need for justice in the case of Chan Tong-kai, the Hong Kong man who cannot be sent to Taiwan to face trial for the alleged murder of his girlfriend, but urged the administration here to consider alternative approaches.

The letter's signatories include US Senator Tom Cotton, Charles Santiago, who chairs the Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights group, and legislators from Britain, Austria, Canada and Germany.