Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, at a media session after attending the "Israel-Hong Kong: Women-to-Women Bridge" forum today (May 31):
Reporter: Would the Taiwanese government be able to file any extradition request, and what do you say to the accusations that you are only entertaining requests from the business sector, but not the others?
Chief Executive: As far as how we are going to deal with the Taiwan case, we have repeatedly said that the first thing is to establish a legal basis. With that legal basis, then we can entertain a request from the Taiwan authorities to provide mutual legal assistance and to surrender the fugitive offender. What we said yesterday is not just targeting the Taiwan case, because this piece of legislation has dual objectives – apart from providing the legal basis to deal with the Taiwan case, we also need to plug the loophole in the existing system of providing mutual legal assistance and in the surrender of fugitive offenders. We are providing additional assurance that since this is such a serious matter and it is going to be conducted on a case-by-case basis, we will request the requesting party to be at a very senior level – normally it will have to be at the central government level rather that at provincial government level. How it would actually work out with the Taiwan authorities, we cannot say at the moment, but we will certainly follow up.
As far as whether we are favouring a particular sector, I would categorically say no. If you look seriously into the six measures under the three categories, they actually deal with concerns and ideas or suggestions raised by a cross-spectrum of bodies, including some from lawyers who want more assurances on the human rights front. I wouldn’t accept any accusation that this is done for the business sector.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
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