To the Editor:

Contrary to “The Death of Hong Kong as We Know It?,” by Ray Wong Toi- yeung (Op-Ed, nytimes.com, June 4), the Hong Kong government’s proposed amendments to extradition laws seek to enable us to effectively combat serious crimes by sealing the legal vacuum in our existing mechanism for surrendering fugitive offenders. They do not pinpoint any particular jurisdiction, nor do they target common citizens or affect the legal rights and freedoms of individuals.

Our independent judiciary will scrutinize each surrender request. No surrender action may be taken that is in conflict with a court decision against the surrender.

Given the range of procedural, judicial and human rights safeguards, the declaration that the proposed amendments would undermine “one country, two systems” and economic competitiveness is unfounded.

Our government has also proposed additional safeguards, like presumption of innocence, open trial and legal representation to ensure the rights of surrendered people. Hong Kong’s rule of law, judicial independence and human rights protection are held in high regard. Our commitment to safeguard these attributes remains rock solid .