Читать книгу Rebel City - South China Morning Post Team - Страница 27

Supporters of the bill said there were yawning gaps in the justice system, which it could plug. If Hong Kong had extradition agreements with just 20 jurisdictions, they pointed out, that meant the city was rolling out the welcome mat for fugitives from more than 170 others. And many such fugitives already lived in the city, among them convicted criminals from Taiwan and 300 people on the run from mainland China. The loophole needed to be closed if the city was to uphold its own criminal justice system, they said.

And the mainland had turned over about 200 criminal suspects to Hong Kong since 1997, so why could the city not return the courtesy? After all, Beijing had signed extradition treaties with 50 countries, 37 of which had been ratified, and they didn’t seem to have a problem. As senior counsel and former director of public prosecutions Grenville Cross put it, the bill was needed to prevent Hong Kong from becoming “China’s criminal sanctuary.”