Hong Kong suspends extradition agreement with Germany

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Police officers in Hong Kong: Because of the so-called security law, several western states have put their extradition agreements on hold

Hong Kong has suspended its extradition agreements with Germany and France. The Hong Kong government announced that the two countries had "politicized legal cooperation" and thus damaged the basis for cooperation in this area.

In response to requests from SPIEGEL, the Federal Foreign Office confirmed that the Hong Kong government had informed Berlin of the move.

Because of the controversial security law for the Chinese Special Administrative Region, the two EU states had previously put their extradition agreements with Hong Kong on hold.

Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) justified the decision at the end of July with the postponement of the parliamentary election, the exclusion of opposition candidates from the vote and the arrest of activists on the basis of the new security law.

China has long been the subject of international criticism because of the so-called security law. It is directed against activities that Beijing sees as subversive, separatist or terrorist. In addition, it is said to punish "secret agreements" with forces abroad. It is feared that the "one country, two systems" principle will end, according to which the former British crown colony has been administered autonomously and with civil liberties since it was returned to China in 1997.

The law also calls into question the independence of the judicial system. For this reason, the USA, Canada and Great Britain, among others, have already suspended their extradition agreements with Hong Kong and extended the arms embargoes applicable to China to Hong Kong.

Most recently, media entrepreneur and well-known activist Jimmy Lai was arrested on the basis of the so-called security law. After more than 40 hours in police custody, Lai was released on bail on Wednesday night. Several other activists were also released on bail.

Lai, who also owns the pro-democracy newspaper "Apple Daily", was arrested along with fellow activists on Monday during a large police operation. The 71-year-old was charged with collusion with forces abroad, fraud and other violations. In the past year, Lai had called several times to take part in protest marches against Beijing. Hundreds of thousands of people were on the streets.

After his release, Lai announced that he would continue fighting. The media in Hong Kong are having an increasingly difficult time, "but we should continue our work," he told employees of his newspaper "Apple Daily", who cheered his return.

asc / cht / AFP / dpa