SHOWDOWN IN HONG KONG

The spring and summer of this year was a real political test for Hong Kong, which it has ever faced in recent decades.

Everything began in February, when the Hong Kong government introduced a parliamentary proposal to amend the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation. The idea was to allow the transfer of fugitives to jurisdictions with which Hong Kong does not have an extradition agreement, including mainland China, Taiwan, and Macau.

Under the current rules, Hong Kong can sign an extradition agreement with any country other than China and other territories that Beijing considers its historical lands. To resolve the issue with these three countries, the government of Hong Kong needed to amend the bill.

The Hong Kong government explained the problem it faced because of the so-called Chang Tong-kai case. Taiwan is demanding the extradition of Chan, a young man accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend, which he committed last year in Taipei.

However, there is no doubt that changes in legislation are more necessary to regulate relations with mainland China.

Combatting dissenters?

According to the concept of One country - Two systems, it is reasonable to expect that Hong Kong and mainland China establish much closer relations with each other than with foreign countries. Given the rise in cross-border crimes such as corruption, drug trafficking, counterfeiting and cybercrime, the need for some kind of legislative definition of the extradition process between Hong Kong and the mainland becomes increasingly obvious.

That is why the government of Hong Kong claims that the amendments are needed to close legal gaps making the city a haven for criminals from the mainland. At the same time, it is constantly emphasized that the bill was not initiated by the central government in Beijing, but it “strongly supports” the Hong Kong government. China Daily noted that "the amendment would strengthen the rule of law in Hong Kong and ensure fairness."

However, the extradition bill provoked unprecedented resistance from all sectors of Hong Kong society, from lawyers to human rights defenders and foreign investors (and even among supporters of Beijing). They fear that the proposed bill will be used by the authorities to combat dissidents. They believe that it does not provide enough guarantees for fair trials and violate human rights. The bill in its current form could allow Beijing to ask the Hong Kong government to extradite political dissidents, civil rights activists and critics of the Chinese government and to start legal proceedings against them in continental courts. Many even suggest that this means the end of the One country, Two systems policy.

Opponents of the bill remind that there are no mechanisms for the protection of human rights on the mainland. Beijing has not yet ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, although it signed it back in 1998. However, the pact is reflected in the Constitution of Hong Kong.

Under treaties with other countries in Hong Kong, the government can finally approve extradition only after it has passed due legal procedures, including court hearings and appeals. Under the new draft, local courts will only consider the presence of sufficient evidence to convict the suspect. The new bill also significantly reduces the role of the Hong Kong Legislative Council in supervising the extradition process.

Some influential business groups have argued that the bill, if adopted, would hurt Hong Kong’s competitiveness, while foreign investors fear that Beijing might use it against foreign nationals who work or travel to Hong Kong. According to Reuters, some Hong Kong businessmen have already begun to move assets abroad due to concerns about the extradition law.

Spoiled children

The bill was submitted to the Legislative Council on April 3, as planned, taking more than 12,000 people to the streets shortly before, on Sunday, March 31.

Soon the protest movement began to grow, regularly gathering more and more people on the central streets of the city. The government continued to insist on the ratification of the bill. In turn, Hong Kong residents increasingly expressed their discontent.

The culmination of the confrontation can be considered June 9, when more than one million people took to the streets. When dispersing demonstrators, the police used batons, rubber bullets and tear gas. Eleven people were arrested on charges of organizing mass riots.

On June 15, under pressure from mass protests that lasted several weeks, the head of the Hong Kong administration, Carrie Lam, was forced to promise to suspend consideration of the bill for an indefinite time. But at the same time, she called the new bill vital for security and promised to re-launch the improved version after further consultations. In her public speeches, she also downplayed the scale of demonstrations and repeatedly stated that the use of force by the police was defensive. Moreover, she called the protesters "spoiled children", thus only adding fuel to the fire of discontent.

The answer was a new demonstration immediately the next day, but with the participation of more than two million people. This is almost 30% of Hong Kong residents. And on July 1, the anniversary of the transfer of Hong Kong's sovereignty to China, a small part of the protesters broke into the parliament building staging a pogrom there.

International reaction

The suspension of the procedure for adopting the bill did not put an end to diplomatic scandals - the war of words between China, on the one hand, and Great Britain, the US and other countries on the other, flared up tensions in Hong Kong.

Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said that if the extradition bill was adopted, the US Congress would have no choice but to consider whether Hong Kong has sufficient autonomy. Pelosi says the bill "endangers the security of 85,000 Americans living in Hong Kong." "The Extradition Act endangers the strong relationship between the US and Hong Kong, which flourished for two decades," she added.

The US is Hong Kong’s second largest trading partner. The volume of trade in goods and services in 2017 reached $69 billion. 18.3% of all foreign companies with regional headquarters or offices in the city are American.

Foreign ministers of Great Britain and Canada issued a joint statement expressing concern about the potential impact of the extradition bill on their citizens, as well as "Hong Kong's business confidence and international reputation."

During the recent G20 summit in Japan, President Xi Jinping was forced to personally listen to comments from other leaders about the situation in Hong Kong.

Remarkably, China strongly condemned “foreign interference” in Hong Kong, accusing foreign politicians and diplomats of fomenting unrest in the city. “Some Western politicians openly support the anti-Chinese and Hong Kong elements,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. - Hong Kong is a purely internal affair of China. No nation, organization or individual can interfere.”

Wrong time

With its sharp stance in international arena, Beijing is still trying not to actively intervene in events going on in Hong Kong, realizing the unique role of Hong Kong in strategic technologies, internationalizing the yuan and uniting with Taiwan.

However, the seriousness of the situation was assessed instantly, and already in early April, Beijing began to carefully study the attitudes of various sections of Hong Kong society, including those opposed to the current leadership of the city. For example, a veteran of the Democratic Party, James To Kung-sung, told reporters that envoys from the mainland were interested in his opinion about the possible consequences of mass protests in Hong Kong.

Representatives from Beijing also met with leaders of major local business organizations, such as the General Chamber of Commerce, China-Hong Kong Manufacturers Association, Federation of Industry, associations of manufacturers, importers and exporters, and others.

As it turned out, to the displeasure of the central government, the local business community, which has always been supported the establishment of friendly relations with Beijing, almost unanimously opposed the bill.

Hong Kong seems to have chosen wrong time to introduce a bill that affects the interests of both local and foreign businesses. This put Beijing in an awkward situation internationally and influenced its relations not only with the US, with which it is in a state of trade war, but also with other Western countries.

Control mechanism destroyed

On July 9, Carrie Lam stated that the bill was "dead."

However, the society accepted the idea as the government's attempt to deceive people again. "The bill is dead, this is a political description, not a legislative language," MP from the Civil Party Alvin Yeung told BBC, adding that the bill is technically still in the process of a second reading.

In fact, Ms Lam has not yet fulfilled any of the five demands of the protesters: revocation of the bill, release of arrested protesters, independent investigation of tough police actions, change of electoral system, and her own resignation.

This means that public confrontation in Hong Kong will continue for indefinite time. Political crisis in Hong Kong is undoubtedly deepening. The situation with the extradition bill shows that the governance mechanism of one of the leading financial centres of the world is almost destroyed. It seems so far no one knows what will come to replace it.