Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Security, Mr John Lee, at a media session after attending an event today (April 15):
Reporter: Mr Lee, Taiwan officials have already said that if under the current proposal from you, they would not trigger the extradition request because it is done under the "one country" principle. So why do you still refer to the suspected murder case in Taiwan as one of the reasons for you to trigger such a legal reform?
Secretary for Security: I think I have repeatedly mentioned that in our impending discussion with the Taiwan side, we will only talk about this case, the merits of the case, the human rights and legal safeguards. We will talk nothing but about the case details and the related matters. 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. But I must have the law now because at present, Hong Kong has no law to deal with such request from the Taiwan side.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
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