Law changes needed urgently

April 15, 2019

Secretary for Security John Lee:

In fact, the request has been initiated by the Taiwan side. We have no law at present to actually go into the arrangement for the requests, that is exactly why we made this proposal to the Legislative Council and that is exactly why we have to deal with it urgently. Once we have the law, then of course, we can actually go into some formal procedures as to the actual arrangement and also to deal with the actual requests. But I must have the law now, because at present, Hong Kong has no law to deal with such requests.

The Government’s proposal on extradition law amendments has to be dealt with urgently, Secretary for Security John Lee says.

Mr Lee told reporters today that Hong Kong does not currently have a law to deal with the suspect involved in the Taiwan murder case.

“In fact the request has been initiated by the Taiwan side. We have no law at present to actually go into the arrangement for the request. That is exactly why we make this proposal to the Legislative Council. And that is exactly why we have to deal with it urgently.

“Once we have the law, then of course, we can actually go into some formal procedures as to the actual arrangement and also to deal with the actual request.”

He added the impending discussions with the Taiwan side will only focus on the case.

“We will only talk about this case, the merits of the case, the human rights and legal safeguards. We will talk (about) nothing but the case details and the related matters."