Hong Kong steps up maritime patrols amid reports of local activists being intercepted at sea while attempting to flee to Taiwan
- Taiwanese newspaper reports five Hongkongers intercepted off coast in July, with incident kept under wraps because of thorny political implications
- Allowing the group to stay may violate Beijing’s national security law, while extraditing them to Hong Kong would go against the pro-independence stance of ruling party
Hong Kong authorities have stepped up maritime patrols in an effort to catch criminal suspects seeking to flee the city for Taiwan, a government source has said, as officials called on the self-governed island to return several suspects reportedly intercepted in its waters late last month.
The Hong Kong source who confirmed the heightened patrols told the Post on Saturday that he believed the recent high-profile interceptions would have a deterrent effect on local suspects who wished to flee the city by illegal means by demonstrating that the cost of such an escape could be “huge”.
Suspects ‘tied to bomb plot’ among activists caught fleeing Hong Kong
Taiwanese newspaper China Times reported on Friday that the five Hong Kong activists were intercepted by the Taiwan Coast Guard at the end of July after their boat ran out of fuel and drifted towards the Pratas Islands, also known as the Dongsha Islands in Chinese.
It was reported that the five included a 24-year-old who was charged in Hong Kong for rioting, assaulting a police officer and possession of offensive weapons over last year’s months of social unrest. Also reportedly aboard was Man Ka-kin, 21, who had skipped a court appearance over a rioting charge involving the storming of the Legislative Council in July of 2019.
The five have been sent to Kaohsiung city in southern Taiwan.
The Mainland Affairs Council in Taipei has yet to respond to inquires from the Post.
Commenting on the issue, Hong Kong’s Security Bureau said any responsible jurisdictions should cooperate to fight cross-boundary crimes, as there was an internationally recognised obligation to prevent fugitives from escaping justice by fleeing from the jurisdiction where they allegedly committed crimes.
“We urge other jurisdictions to take a clear position not to harbour any criminals who are involved in crimes in Hong Kong and to return them. The Hong Kong Government stands ready to receive their return and deal with them in accordance with the law,” the bureau said.
The sweeping national security law, which took effect on June 30 in Hong Kong and prohibits in broad terms any acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, has a wide reach that also covers offences committed outside the city, though prosecution of such offences could be difficult.
But Hong Kong legal scholar Eric Cheung Tat-ming said he believed any reluctance on Taipei’s part was a “political consideration” rather than a legal issue.
“Would Taiwan leaders be afraid of being caught by Hong Kong police for breaching the national security law?” he asked. “I don’t think so.”
Cheung added that repatriating illegal immigrants to their country of residence did not require any extradition arrangement between two places, so both the mainland and Taiwan could return the Hongkongers to the city through an administrative arrangement.
Chiu on Thursday said in a press conference that the government would never encourage anyone to risk their personal safety to enter Taiwan illegally, and warned that those involved faced criminal liability.
Taiwan on ‘front lines of freedom’ after Hong Kong crackdown
He said the authorities would deal with political cases concerning Hong Kong and Macau residents in accordance with humanitarian principles under an established mechanism, and called on the mainland and Hong Kong governments to respect residents’ calls for democracy and freedoms.
An estimated 200 Hong Kong protesters have fled to Taiwan, with most on extended tourist visas.
The pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao on Saturday accused Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, the Occupy movement co-founder, of being involved in the suspects’ escape, along with Huang Chunsheng of the Chi-Nan Presbyterian Church in Taiwan.
Chu denied the accusations, saying he did not know Huang personally, and had played no role in the suspects’ flight, adding that he reserved the right to take legal action against what he characterised as a malicious report.
Meanwhile, the fate of the 12 Hongkongers arrested by mainland officers in Chinese waters – one of whom was Andy Li, who was arrested by Hong Kong police under the national security law earlier this month – remained unclear as of Saturday evening. Mainland law stipulates that illegal immigrants can be sentenced to up to a year in prison before being repatriated.
Chinese military ramps up coastal drills
The Hong Kong government source said he believed the group, which is currently remanded in Yantian district in Shenzhen, will be held on mainland soil for a short while until their legal procedures are complete there. However, the insider said it was “unlikely” that Li’s national security case would be tried there.
Pro-Beijing lawmaker Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, a member of the Basic Law committee, said the mainland side might try Li for his alleged offences under the national security law if they found his case fell under one of three specific situations outlined in the law.
Under the controversial legislation, only in complex cases involving foreign elements, those where the Hong Kong government is unable to enforce the law itself, and those involving a “major and imminent threat” to national security will the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong exercise jurisdiction and try the arrestees on the mainland.
Cheung, the legal scholar, said he believed Li’s case did not meet that high threshold – which Beijing has insisted applied to a very small number of cases – adding that Li should be sent back to Hong Kong for his trial on allegations of “colluding with foreign forces”.
