Extradition law in Hong Kong: Chief Executive Carrie Lam refuses to meet pro-democracy camp over controversial bill, saying practical suggestions should be made in the legislature

City’s leader says officials willing to listen to lawmakers’ views about contents of the bill but private meeting to persuade her to shelve it would be futile

Following march against amendment attended by tens of thousands, the pan-democrats urged Lam to meet them ‘before things deteriorate’

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Tens of thousands of Hongkongers marched on Sunday in protest against a proposal to amend the city’s extradition law. Photo: Robert Ng

Published: 12:53pm, 30 Apr 2019Updated: 4:27pm, 30 Apr 2019

Hong Kong’s leader has ruled out meeting with the city’s pro-democracy camp over a controversial bill to amend the extradition law and said practical suggestions should be made in the legislature.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Tuesday said officials would be willing to listen to lawmakers’ views about the contents of the bill but a private meeting would be pointless.

“If the main purpose is to pressurise me to withdraw the bill, then there is no purpose,” Lam said, insisting the proposed amendment bill that would allow Hong Kong to hand over fugitives to jurisdictions with which it has no extradition deal, including mainland China, Taiwan, and Macau, would not be shelved.

Following a march against the amendment attended by tens of thousands of Hongkongers on Sunday, the pan-democrats had urged Lam to meet them “before things deteriorate”.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam said a meeting to persuade her to shelve a controversial extradition bill would serve no purpose. Photo: Felix Wong.

“If the purpose is to go into the safeguards of the proposed legislation, then the best platform is the bills committee … and not a closed-door meeting,” Lam said.