Ronny Tong, Dennis Kwok Duel Over Extradition Row

Executive councillor Ronny Tong highlighted protections offered by Hong Kong courts to back proposed extradition law changes, while legal sector lawmaker Dennis Kwok raised a lack of trust in the mainland's judiciary to shoot down his former party colleague's argument during an FCC debate on Thursday.

Tong – a barrister and former chairman of the Bar Association – said the proposed changes are long overdue, and something he has been calling for for two decades.

He said the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance as it stands already has built-in safeguards, for example, to prevent people from being extradited for political crimes or charges that have a political nature, or for crimes not considered serious in Hong Kong.

He said this is why he couldn't understand why bookseller Lam Wing-kee, who was kidnapped by mainland agents in 2015, had recently left Hong Kong for Taiwan. "Because he hasn't done anything as far as I know, which would constitute a serious crime in Hong Kong. Not to mention that what he was accused of doing is of a very, very high political nature," he said.

Tong said the Hong Kong government would seek assurances that safeguards would not be breached, and the courts would decide if these assurances and guarantees would be met. If not, the person wouldn't be extradited.

But lawmaker Kwok hit back at Tong over his claim not to understand why Lam had fled Hong Kong.

"If you have been abducted by authorities, taken across the border, incarcerated away from your friends and your family, have charges laid against you, I think you would be afraid too," he told Tong.

Kwok said those who are worried about the government's move simply don't have any trust in the mainland's legal system, or fear that the extradition arrangement will be "weaponised".

He said there are cases of people being detained indefinitely on the mainland, of forced confessions, torture, closed trials and defendants being denied independent legal representation.

Kwok also said the Taiwanese authorities aren't willing to accept the government's extradition proposal, and it would be better to proceed with a one-off, ad-hoc agreement to handle the murder of a Hong Kong woman on the island last year. He warned that the current legal proposals will just divide society further.

Tong said the debate on this issue should return to a rational basis – while acknowledging that the government has lots of room for improvements in explaining the proposals. But he said lawmakers should put aside any political agenda, and work on trying to improve the quality of the amendments.