'Foreign Critics Exaggerate Extradition Concerns'

Top Beijing advisor Lau Siu-kai has suggested that overseas critics of the extradition changes are using the bill to score political points.

Lau, the vice-president of the semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong Macau Studies think tank, said on Saturday that tense relations between Beijing and Taiwan, as well as confrontations with the United States, give foreign players a motive to use the issue to "attack China".

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, the American Chamber of Commerce, and Hong Kong's last governor, Chris Patten, are among those who have expressed concerns over the proposal. The changes would allow Hong Kong to surrender fugitives on a one-off basis to any jurisdiction, including the mainland – where critics say suspects’ human rights cannot be guaranteed.

“It seems to me that some western countries, or western governments and politicians, are trying to use this amendment to the bill to attack China, to gain some political scores,” Lau told RTHK’s Maggie Ho.

Lau added that Hong Kong needed to act to close a legal loophole allowing fugitives to hide out here.

“Hong Kong cannot continue to be an asylum for fugitives which threaten China’s national security,” he said.

“That means despite the fact that some people in Hong Kong might be skeptical of China’s legal system, still we need to do something, to make sure that Hong Kong will not become a base of national security threat against China,” Lau added.