ARM WRESTLING BETWEEN HONG KONG AND CHINA

WITH THE EXTRADITION ACT

In recent years, the Chinese authorities have systematically interpreted the texts governing Hong Kong's autonomy in a restrictive manner. A draft law provides for the authorization of extraditions to China. Controversial, he has already caused an unprecedented event in Hong Kong last weekend.

The former British colony was on Sunday the scene of its largest protest since its handover to China in 1997. According to the organizers, over a million people took to the streets to ask the Hong Kong executive to give up his bill. The text has sparked criticism from Western countries as well as the outcry of some Hong Kongers who fear an opaque and politicized Chinese justice, and believe that this reform will undermine the international image and attractiveness of the semi-autonomous city.

The Chinese audio-visual media do not evoke the subject and the social networks that do it are censored.

Moreover, the magnitude of the demonstration did not deter the head of the local executive, Carrie Lam, who reaffirmed Monday that the Legislative Council (LegCo) - the Hong Kong Parliament dominated by the forces loyal to Beijing - would consider scheduled for Wednesday, June 12, 2019 this text at second reading.

Opponents of the text have announced a demonstration Wednesday near the LegCo and called on the population to participate or strike. Others also called for a rally on Tuesday night to spend the night near parliament. Traders have already mobilized on social networks, under a hashtag that can be translated as "# strike1206", to announce that their shops would close their doors to allow their employees to demonstrate.

At the end of the 1984 agreement between London and Beijing which presided over its retrocession in 1997, Hong Kong enjoyed a semi-autonomy and freedoms that did not exist in mainland China and, in theory, until 2047 The former British colony, however, has been the scene of intense political unrest over the past decade due to the concern over Beijing's growing interference in its internal affairs, and the perception that retrocession and the famous principle "One country, two systems" are no longer respected.

The controversial draft law must allow extraditions to all jurisdictions with which no bilateral agreement exists, including mainland China. The authorities say the law will fill a legal vacuum and make the city no longer a safe haven for some criminals. They ensure that safeguards exist to ensure that it respects international human rights standards and that it will not target political opponents of China.

But this bill presents serious risks in terms of human rights. Does not Hong Kong benefit from an autonomous judicial system ("One country, two systems," launched Deng Xiaoping), since 1997, when the former British colony was handed over to China?

The Sino-British agreement provides for the maintenance of this judicial system for fifty years. Beijing has signed the joint declaration with the United Kingdom, giving rise to a basic law that serves as a constitution in Hong Kong and guarantees certain rights to Hong Kongers. In no case was included the possibility of extraditing persons, in China or elsewhere.

Such a law on extradition would allow the authorities to ship any resident of the territory to mainland China, including people whose political activities would displease the Chinese Communist Party.

The demonstrations of Hong Kong and its 7.5 million inhabitants of Sunday, Monday and today are not mistaken who make their voices heard, like the "movement of the umbrellas" of 2014.

Among them, especially indigenous people, but also mainland Chinese and expatriates, Asian or not, whose presence is a guarantee to maintain Hong Kong as an international platform.

Alyson Braxton for DayNewsWorld