Ministers Seek To Drum Up Support On Extraditions

Top government ministers continued to try to sell the administration's extradition law plans to the public on Sunday, with Security Secretary John Lee and Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng again pairing up for a media grilling.

Appearing on a radio programme, Cheng again explained why additional human rights safeguards cannot be written into the bill, saying that setting out the goals in a policy statement to Legco instead will offer more flexibility.

On Thursday, the government said it would seek protections for people being extradited, including a pledge from the requesting jurisdiction to give the crime suspect a fair trial and access to legal representation.

Following the radio show, Cheng was asked if the government is merely paying lip service to protecting people's rights. She replied by reiterating that setting out such matters in the bill would not be a good move.

"It will maintain flexibility by being not too prescriptive by listing it out in the laws," she replied.

"Depending on the case, depending on where is the jurisdiction requesting the surrender of the fugitive, and of course depending on the need, we can adopt the relevant provisions."

Meanwhile, Lee sought to clarify a remark he made in Legco last week regarding journalists' coverage of the extradition law controversy when he said reporters don't understand the proposed legislation.

During the radio programme, the security minister said he respects the media and while denying he had suggested that journalists had been "misled", he said it remains a fact that some people have not read the bill.

Lee was also asked again which authority will be able to make an extradition request for a Hong Kong man accused of murdering his girlfriend in Taiwan – the case used by the SAR government to justify the urgency of the new legislation.

The bill will now state that only a country's top authority can make such applications, but Beijing regards Taiwan as being merely a province of China.

Lee did not name which authority Hong Kong could negotiate with over extraditions to Taiwan.

"It will be during our discussion with the requesting party that we will have to ask for the competent authority to be the representative. Because we will be asking the other side to make guarantees. It will have to be a competent authority who is going to represent the jurisdiction to give those guarantees," he said.

Lawmakers will resume discussions on the extradition plans on Monday.