In recent times, the UK government’s decision to suspend its extradition treaty arrangements with Hong Kong, amid China’s new security law implementation, has been headline news. This follows similar acts of suspension by Australia and Canada.
Understanding Extradition Treaties
Extradition represents a formal procedure where one nation surrenders a person to another nation for possible prosecution or penalisation for crimes committed within the jurisdiction of the requesting country. It usually gets facilitated by a bilateral or multilateral treaty. The Extradition Act 1962 provides India’s legal structure for extradition.
The New Security Law in Hong Kong
On June 30th, 2020, China’s supreme legislative body unanimously approved a new national security law for Hong Kong. The law identifies four criminal activities – secession, subversion, terrorist activity organization and perpetration, and collusion with a foreign country or external elements to jeopardise national security. Some specific offenses include damaging government buildings and lobbying against the Chinese government.
UK’s Notable Decisions
The extradition treaty suspension indicates that if a person in Hong Kong is suspected of committing a crime in the UK, the British authorities can request Hong Kong to surrender them for justice – and vice versa. The UK has concerns that anyone it extradites to Hong Kong could get relocated to China, mainly because, under the national security law, Hong Kong residents’ sentencing in mainland China is a real possibility.
Moreover, an arms embargo has been extended by the UK government to Hong Kong, which was initially with China since 1989. This embargo halts the UK from exporting equipment, including firearms, smoke grenades, and shackles, to the region. There are also plans for offering UK citizenship to approximately three million Hong Kong inhabitants by early 2021 as a response to the security law.
Significantly, China’s Huawei Technologies will be entirely removed from Britain’s 5G network by 2027 end.
Rationale for the Decisions
These actions were influenced by several factors, including allegations of China’s lack of transparency over the Covid-19 outbreak and the breach of guarantees of freedom, including an independent judiciary, by the new national security law. These freedoms have helped Hong Kong maintain its status as one of the world’s crucial trade and financial centers since 1997.
The national security law also breaches an agreement with the UK, preceding Hong Kong – a former British colony, was transferred to China in 1997. Under this 50-year agreement, China incorporated civil liberties in Hong Kong’s Basic Law, under the “one country, two systems” approach.
Further reasons include the treatment of the Uighur minority in Xinjiang, a self-governing region in China, the activities of the Chinese government in the South China Sea, and US sanctions against Huawei due to national security risks.
The Chinese Counterpoint
China has charged Britain with siding with the United States and persistently told Western powers to cease interfering in Hong Kong’s matters. Officials in Hong Kong and Beijing maintain that the law is critical to address loopholes in national security highlighted by recent pro-democracy and anti-China protests.
