Govt's Loophole Claim 'absolute Nonsense': Patten

Hong Kong's last colonial governor on Thursday rejected the government's arguments that the city's fugitive law has to be amended to hand over a murder suspect to Taiwan, describing this as "absolute nonsense".

The government has argued that the changes in law are needed to plug what it says is a loophole that is preventing the extradition of a Hong Kong man who is wanted in Taiwan over the murder of his girlfriend. The existing law explicitly prevents the surrendering of fugitives to any other jurisdiction in China.

Patten rejected that this restriction is a loophole. "People had known exactly why there shouldn't be an extradition agreement with China for years," he said.

He described the law changes as an attempt "to remove the firewall between Hong Kong's rule of law" and the mainland "where there aren't any independent courts, where the courts and the security services and the party's rules ... are rolled all together".

Patten's comments came ahead of a rare protest by lawyers in Hong Kong, which has already seen one of the biggest protests in years regarding the extradition bill, as well as criticism from influential legal groups, business associations and Western diplomats.

"It's a proposal, or a set of proposals, which strike a terrible blow... against the rule of law, against Hong Kong's stability and security, against Hong Kong's position as a great international trading hub," said Patten said in a video statement.

He cited the arrests of Canadian citizens by the mainland authorities as an example of how laws are used retaliate over political rows.

The former governor also said a crackdown on the mainland has increased in the last few years and Hong Kong is also feeling the pressure of Beijing's new approach. (AFP)