Hong Kong's leader said Monday she had no plans to withdraw a controversial plan to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland, a day after huge crowds came out to oppose the proposal, AFP reported.
"This is a very important piece of legislation that will help to uphold justice and also ensure that Hong Kong will fulfil her international obligations in terms of cross-boundary and transnational crimes," chief executive Carrie Lam said as cited by AFP.
On Sunday, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported, citing the organizers, that over 1 million people took to the streets to protest against the amendment, which, if approved, will permit transferring the fugitives to jurisdictions Hong Kong has no respective agreements with. The police, however, said that only 240,000 were taking part in the manifestation.
The Hong Kong region, which enjoys significant autonomy in China except for foreign and defense policies, has not the same legal system as mainland China.
However, Hong Kong's chief executive, believed to have a pro-Beijing stance, suggested amending the extradition law to allow the autonomous territory to give up suspects to countries, with which it does not have extradition agreements including mainland China.
