MPs calling for country to ditch extradition treaty with HK as Senate president, Prague mayor gear up for Taipei visit

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/18
By: Micah McCartney, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwa­­­­­­­­n News) — As a Czech delegation prepares for its high-profile trip to Taiwan at the end of August, China continues to hemorrhage influence over the Czech Republic's body politic, and opposition party members are seeking to abandon the Central European nation's extradition agreement with Hong Kong in light of that city's national security law, which many view as the final nail in the coffin of "one country, two systems."

The Czech Senate is expected to pass a resolution calling for the country to back out the extradition treaty. Its Committee on Foreign Affairs recommended last month that the entire body draft a resolution in response to the Chinese Communist Party's violation of Hong Kong's autonomy and obstruction in its legislative processes, Czech News Agency reported.

The resolution will call China out over its about-face on the "one country, two systems" framework and its failure to adhere to the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a legally binding agreement that guarantees Hong Kong a “high degree of autonomy,” the freedoms of speech and assembly, and other rights until 2047. Foreign Affairs Committee members also raised concerns over the threat that Hong Kong's sweeping new security law poses to the rights and due process of Czechs theoretically prosecuted the special administrative region.

Hong Kong's national security law, which entered force on July 1, imposing harsh penalties for the broad, vaguely defined crimes of "subversion," "secession," "collusion with a foreign power," and "terrorism." In the weeks since, Hongkongers have been arrested for a range of offenses, from being active in the local democracy movement to carrying homemade pro-independence signs.    [FULL  STORY]