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Taiwan
Hong KongPolitics

Hong Kong murder suspect Chan Tong-kai’s voluntary surrender in fresh doubt as Taiwan demands formal handover

  • Taiwan premier says Chan will not be allowed to visit the self-ruled island to give himself up without negotiations through official channels
  • Chan’s politically loaded case triggered Hong Kong extradition bill crisis and has soured city’s relations with Taiwan

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Chan Tong-kai on his release from prison for money-laundering charges last October. Photo: Winson Wong
Lawrence Chung,Ng Kang-chungandTony Cheung
Taiwan has thrown the voluntary surrender of Hong Kong murder suspect Chan Tong-kai into uncertainty by declaring that it would be impossible for him to “come and go freely” without negotiations through formal channels.

Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang on Monday suggested that Chan, wanted for the murder of his pregnant girlfriend in Taipei in a case that sparked Hong Kong’s extradition bill crisis last year, would have to be handed over officially, as the two governments redrew old battle lines in the long-running spat over the fugitive.

The politically loaded case continues to weigh heavily on the Hong Kong administration long after officials held it up as a key justification for the now-withdrawn bill, which last June sparked months of anti-government protests in the city.
Last year’s tensions resurfaced when Chan recently revealed he was instructing his lawyers to arrange for his return to Taiwan so he could hand himself in by the end of October.

But Su told reporters on Monday that he would not let Chan visit Taiwan on an “independent tour”. “We will never allow a murder suspect to come and go freely. There is no need for the Hong Kong government to remain evasive [over the case], and our government will handle it according to law,” Su said.

In a statement later on Monday, Hong Kong’s Security Bureau offered to discuss Chan’s transfer via a “police cooperation mechanism” after Taipei had sorted out the arrangements with the suspect about his return to Taiwan.

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