Hong Kong National Security Act: Canada Suspends Extradition Treaty

Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau in the House of Commons in Ottawa on June 18, 2020. REUTERS / Patrick Doyle

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While the Prime Minister of Canada has said that his country "will continue to support the people of Hong Kong", China said it was "very disappointed" with Canada's decision to suspend the application of the extradition treaty established with Hong Kong.

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Canada firmly believes in one country with two systems,  " said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday July 3. According to Ottawa, the new national security law imposed by Beijing on its administrative region puts an end to this organization. And since Canada does not have an extradition agreement with China, Hong Kong is now treated like the rest of the country and the application of the text is suspended.

29 other countries and jurisdictions including the United States and Europe have an extradition treaty with Hong Kong. But as Canada was the first to suspend it, Hong Kong officials reacted vehemently, speaking of an "  attack on international law  " since Canada "will  allow fugitives to evade their legal responsibilities  ".

Strong tensions between Beijing and Ottawa

Relations between Beijing and Ottawa have already been very bad since the arrest in Canada, a year and a half ago, of the leader of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei. China responded to the arrest by arresting two Canadians for spying.

Tensions that did not prevent Ottawa from reacting to the situation in Hong Kong. Justin Trudeau also announced that exports of " sensitive  " military equipment  to Hong Kong have been suspended and that immigration measures could be taken, without giving further details. Today, 300,000 Canadians live in Hong Kong.

For its part, the former colonial power, the United Kingdom, is already planning to offer naturalization to almost half of the 7 and a half million Hong Kongers.

Opponents' books removed from libraries in Hong Kong

Each day, a new aspect of daily life in Hong Kong affected by this national security law is discovered. This Saturday, July 4, public libraries began to clean up their shelves.

With our correspondent in Hong Kong,   Florence de Changy

It is no longer possible to borrow from the library a work written by certain opposition figures such as the young leader Joshua Wong . Even the books of Tanya Chan, a deputy who belongs to the respectable Civic party, the lawyers' party, are no longer available.

It is the public radio RTHK who made the report this Saturday, July 4. Radio recently gave up producing Hong Kong's most popular satirical program for decades, Headliner, after an episode ridiculed the police.

Now is the time to re-educate the Hong Kong people and rectify their thoughts. For this, it is a master in propaganda that Beijing has just appointed in Hong Kong: Zheng Yanxiong , secretary general of the party for the province of Canton, known for having suppressed the riots in Wukan, in 2011.

Appointed head of the new national security agency which will notably be in charge of directing the secret police, Zheng Yanxiong had declared, during a meeting whose recording had leaked: "  The pigs will have wings before we can trust a foreign journalist.  "

►Read: Hong Kong: the controversial national security law adopted by Beijing

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