Should the Chinese government be able to extradite fugitives from Hong Kong?

In October 2019 the U.S. House of Representatives passed a series of bills supporting protesters in Hong Kong who have a called for democratic reforms in the City. In March 2019 a series of protests began in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (HKSAR) after the government there introduced the Fugitive Offenders amendment bill. The Fugitive Offenders bill established a mechanism for transfers of fugitives from Hong Kong to Mainland China, Macau and Taiwan. The bill was proposed in response to the 2018 murder of Poon Hiu-wing in Taiwan. After the murder her boyfriend, Chan Tong-kai, left Taiwan and traveled to Hong Kong where he told police that he killed Poon. Taiwanese police were unable to extradite Tong-kai and charge him with the murder because the Taiwanese police did not have an extradition agreement in place with Hong Kong. Opponents of the bill argued that it would allow the mainland Chinese government to extradite citizens in Hong Kong - effectively putting them under Chinese law. Opponents also argues that the Chinese criminal process does not have an independent judiciary, fair public trials and lack of access to legal representation. On September 4, 2019, after 13 weeks of protests, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam promised to withdraw the bill.

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