Opposition's Taiwan Trip Branded A Ridiculous Move

Pro-government lawmaker Ma Fung-kwok has hit out at four opposition politicians for travelling to Taipei to hold talks with Taiwanese officials and lawmakers over proposed changes to Hong Kong law that will make it easier to extradite crime suspects.

Three pro-democracy lawmakers, Chu Hoi-dick, James To and Raymond Chan, as well as former Demosisto legislator Nathan Law, have been in Taipei to, as they described it, “explain the proposed amendments thoroughly”.

But Ma, a local deputy to the National People’s Congress, who is in Beijing to attend the body's annual session, said the four should not have taken the matter to Taiwan.

“This has nothing to do with the Taiwanese government. This is our own matter. It’s an SAR matter. Why go to Taiwan? This is ridiculous. Right?”.

The government has said that the need for changes to the city's legislation on surrendering fugitives was made apparent by the recent murder of a Hong Kong woman in Taiwan. The prime suspect is a Hong Kong man, who flew back to the SAR and cannot currently be extradited to the island.

But Ma said how Hong Kong changes its laws to provide a legal basis for the suspect to be surrendered is of no concern to Taipei.

“Because we are now considering whether we are supporting that request from the Taiwan side. How to deal with it is entirely our matter. So, I think they have done the totally wrong move."