Ostrich Mindset or Principled Fight:

Ostrich Mindset or Principled Fight: the battle over the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019

Abstract

Recent government proposals to change Hong Kong’s extradition laws have re-ignited an old debate on mutual legal assistance between Hong Kong and Mainland China. The political contention over the Bill has once again divided the Hong Kong society along the traditional political line. While the government is calling for a steady integration between Hong Kong and the mainland by allowing the extradition of a fugitive offender back to the Mainland, oppositional political forces regard such a legislative attempt as a dangerous move that erodes Hong Kong's rule of law and endangers Hong Kong's autonomy. In rejecting the government proposal and thus vetoing any possible cooperation with the Mainland on the repatriation of fugitive offenders, are Hong Kong Democrats perpetuating an ostrich mentality that simply refuses to acknowledge China's interest and influences in Hong Kong or engaging in a good principled fight that is called for?

Speaker biography

Fu Hualing is Professor of Law and holder of the Warren Chan Professorship in Human Rights and Responsibilities as well as Acting Dean at the Hong Kong University Faculty of Law and a current Visiting Researcher at King’s College London. He holds an LL.B. from Southwestern University in China, an M.A. from Toronto University and a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Osgoode Hall.

Professor Fu’s current research focuses on the rise of human rights lawyering in China and its implications for political and legal reform in China, the politics of anti-corruption enforcement, popular justice (including China's evolving use of mediation processes), and a critical re-assessment of rule of law reform in China in the past four decades. His other research areas include the constitutional status of Hong Kong, in particular central-local relationships in the Hong Kong context and national security legislation.

Professor Fu has published widely in various books and journals, and as a believer in collaborative approaches to scholarship has co-edited a number of significant studies including Hong Kong’s Constitutional Debate: Conflict over Interpretation (2000); National Security and Fundamental Freedoms: Hong Kong’s Article 23 Under Scrutiny (2005); Liu Xiaobo; Charter 08 and the Limits of China’s Political Reform (2012); Mediation in Contemporary China (2017); Transparency Challenges Facing China (2018); and Socialist Law in Socialist East Asia (2018).

He is a China Law Editor of the Hong Kong Law Journal, Co-editor of the SSRN Chinese Law eJournal, and Co-editor of The Routledge Rule of Law in China and Comparative Perspectives Series. He has widely published in local and international journals, including The China Quarterly, The China Journal and the Journal of Contemporary China.’