In 2018, Chan Tong-Kai, a Hong Kong resident, killed his pregnant girlfriend in Taiwan and returned to Hong Kong.
He admitted his crime but couldn’t be charged or sent over (extradited) to Taiwan because there was no agreement of extradition between Taiwan and Hong Kong.
In Feb 2019, the Hong Kong government proposed changes to fugitive laws, which will allow criminal suspects to be extradited to ANY jurisdiction with which Hong Kong signed (after this law is passed) formal extradition treaty.
Hong Kong and China have a twisted relationship as it is, so when China’s name appeared on the list of countries for signing the treaty, it was a problem in Hong Kong.
Opposition urged the government to establish extradition agreement with only Taiwan and end that agreement after Chan Tong-Kai was sent over to Taiwan.
Protestors believed that this change in policy would risk unfair trials of the people and give China a greater influence over Hong Kong.
E.g. you are a newspaper columnist in Hong Kong and you travel frequently to China and write bad things about it; the Chinese government can accuse you of misconduct and charge you unfairly.
Hong Kong was a British colony and was handed back in 1997 to China, who had lost control over it in 1842 (after losing a war to Britain).
But as per the agreement between Britain & China, Hong Kong has to be treated as a special administrative region till 2047, meaning China will have limited influence over Hong Kong.
China, however, has not been true to its word and its influence in Hong Kong has been on a rise since Hong Kong’s handover.
The proposed bill was withdrawn in Sep 2019, but protestors are still not happy. They have 4 more demands:
The protests shouldn’t be characterised as riots (as rioters could end up in jail for up to 10 years)
The protestors should be pardoned
Police brutality should be investigated
Chief Executive, which is currently elected by 1200-member Election Committee, should be elected by voting; so should be members of Legislative Council.
