Top foreign diplomats express serious concerns about Hong Kong government’s extradition proposal at Legislative Council
- More than 30 senior diplomats in Admiralty for closed-door meeting
- Some say they will seek further direction from their governments
Key foreign envoys to Hong Kong on Monday raised the stakes in their opposition to the city’s controversial extradition bill, with some saying they would consult their governments on what action to take if the local administration insisted on pushing it through the legislature.
After a closed-door lunch attended by more than 30 consuls general and other consular representatives, along with 21 lawmakers, at the Legislative Council, one opposition politician quoted some diplomats as saying a unilateral review of their governments’ bilateral relations with Hong Kong was an option, but others did not confirm this.
Starry Lee Wai-king, chairwoman of the pro-establishment Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said some envoys had expressed support for the bill, but she declined to identify them.
The foreign envoys took it a step further after European Union officials last week made a formal representation to Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor against her government’s planned changes to extradition laws, which would allow suspects to be handed over to authorities in mainland China and other jurisdictions with which the city has no fugitive transfer agreement.
I think the government should do a better job explaining [its justification for the bill]
Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, chairwoman of the New People’s Party and one of Lam’s advisers in the Executive Council, said no diplomats had voiced support for the bill.
“Some were worried whether human rights protections under the amendments were too weak, because the requests would not be vetted by Legco,” Ip said.