Why did Germany feel the need to grant asylum to Hong Kong riot fugitives? Ask Carrie Lam
- Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with Germany, so why didn’t the government seek to have the Mong Kok pair returned?
- Probably because it didn’t want the city’s dirty linen washed in public, amid perceptions that our freedoms are being eroded
If a government exercises its sovereign right to implement its own laws within its own country, can that in any way be construed as meddling in the internal affairs of another country? To me, the answer is a no-brainer. But try explaining that to the Hong Kong government.
Let’s get this straight. If Hong Kong kicks out foreign journalists, it is solely our matter. Countries that protest are interfering in our internal affairs. But if Germany accepts Hongkongers as political refugees, it is not solely Germany’s matter. We have a right to protest, and doing so is not interfering in Germany’s internal affairs.
Now I get it. Deciding what is or is not interference is solely a prerogative of Hong Kong and Beijing. The Financial Times reported last week that Chinese officials in Germany tried to prevent the Hong Kong pair from gaining political asylum. But that, of course, would not be Beijing interfering in Germany’s internal affairs.
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Our government and loyalists alleged Germany, in granting two Hong Kong fugitives political asylum, was effectively telling the world Hong Kong was inflicting political persecution. Don’t they understand it’s not Germany but our government that told the world this by expelling Mallet, who had committed no crime by hosting an independence talk?
Germany’s granting of asylum to Wong and Li not only tarnished the image of Hong Kong’s independent judiciary but also blindsided the Lam administration. It’s now striking out like a wounded animal, linking the German decision to the trade war between the United States and China, Western pushback against China’s rise, the extradition bill, and to the opposition’s alleged badmouthing of Hong Kong.
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For the record, I still believe in the independence of Hong Kong’s judiciary. Wong and Li would have received a fair trial if they had dared to face our courts. But what I believe means nothing. What matters is what others believe.
Western governments, international human rights groups, and even many in our own legal community believe Hong Kong’s freedoms are diminishing. The question is not whether Hong Kong’s judiciary is still independent. It is. The question is how much longer it can stay this way as our government enacts freedom-eroding laws that judges have no choice but to follow.
Michael Chugani is a Hong Kong journalist and TV show host