'Govt Should Not Ignore Fears About Fugitive Law'

The outgoing US Consul General, Kurt Tong, says the SAR government should listen to the concerns of both the local and international community as it pushes ahead with its plan to amend extradition laws.

Speaking on RTHK's "The Pulse" programme, the top American diplomat in Hong Kong said the authorities had not done enough to explain and convince the public about the proposed changes, and people have good reason to be afraid.

“What does this mean? How are things going to change? There hasn’t been careful explanation of how this is going to work out for people yet and I think that’s a concern”, he said.

“Fear is an interesting emotion because you can tell someone ‘don’t be afraid’ but that’s not going to make them not be concerned. I think that concern, that emotional reaction, that sense of apprehension that people have needs to be faced head on, recognised as a reality and then dealt with”.

Tong also said the government needed to do more to uphold the city's high level of autonomy under the 'One Country Two Systems' framework if it wishes to re-establish or retain the confidence of the international business community.

“We’ve seen an accelerating tempo of actions by the central government, or by the Hong Kong government as a proxy which seemed to undermine a high degree of autonomy. The recent situation of Hong Kong has given the international business community a bit of a pause in terms of thinking about Hong Kong. And really, Hong Kong is a question of confidence. If Hong Kong people have confidence in the high degree of autonomy, then I think confidence will build more confidence. If confidence is undermined, then that can slow down people’s commitment to the city”, he added.

The US Consul-general also expressed concern over the government's controversial decision to prosecute nine Occupy leaders, who had recently been sentenced to up to 16 months in prison for public nuisance-related charged.

“Our concern, to be precise, was not so much the sentencing, but the decision by the Hong Kong government to prosecute, and to prosecute using the charges that were brought, which seemed rather aggressive and assigning responsibility for collective action to a few individuals”, he said.

Tong said the case went against many people’s wish for reconciliation in society.