The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said that the government would not lift an entry ban on a Hong Kong man wanted for murder in Taiwan, unless the Hong Kong authorities agree to share more information on the case.
Chan Tong-kai (陳同佳) is the chief suspect in the murder of his girlfriend, Poon Hiu-wing (潘曉穎), while they were visiting Taiwan in February last year.
Chan returned to Hong Kong before he was identified as a suspect, but Taiwanese authorities later issued an arrest warrant and asked that he be sent back to Taiwan for trial.
However, the lack of an extradition treaty between Taiwan and Hong Kong made that impossible.
Chan was sentenced to 29 months in prison for stealing from his girlfriend, but could not be indicted in Hong Kong for murder due to lack of evidence.
After agreeing to a plea bargain, his sentence was reduced and he is due to be released from prison tomorrow.
The Criminal Investigation Bureau on Saturday said that it has been informed by Hong Kong police that Chan is willing to surrender himself to Taiwanese authorities.
Canon Peter Douglas Koon (管浩鳴) of the Hong Kong Anglican Church on Friday said that Chan was willing to return to Taiwan to assist with the murder investigation and that he would accompany him.
However, Chinese-language media reports said Koon, who is chaplain of the St John’s Cathedral, is also a member of National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and so the National Immigration Agency has barred Koon from visiting for security reasons, and Chan as well.
They need to appear in person at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office Hong Kong to submit a travel application themselves and pass the screening process before the government would consider allowing their visit, the reports quoted the agency as saying.
Koon had reportedly filed an online application.
Meanwhile, the council said yesterday that Hong Kong authorities must present more evidence that the murder case is part of a bilateral judicial cooperation process, before the ban on Koon and Chan would be lifted.
The Ministry of Justice also reiterated that it has asked Hong Kong authorities to keep Chan behind bars and charge him with homicide.
Poon’s murder and the difficulty in sending Chan to Taiwan for trial was cited as one of the reasons for the Hong Kong government’s proposed extradition bill that would have allowed suspects to be extradited on a case-by-case basis to Taiwan, Macau and mainland China.
Outrage over the bill triggered weeks of protests in Hong Kong and finally led the territory’s government to shelve the proposal, although that has not dampened the pro-democracy protests.
Additional reporting by AFP
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
DETERMINATION: Beijing’s actions toward Tokyo have drawn international attention, but would likely bolster regional coordination and defense networks, the report said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is likely to prioritize security reforms and deterrence in the face of recent “hybrid” threats from China, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said. The bureau made the assessment in a written report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of an oral report and questions-and-answers session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The key points of Japan’s security reforms would be to reinforce security cooperation with the US, including enhancing defense deployment in the first island chain, pushing forward the integrated command and operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and US Forces Japan, as
‘TROUBLEMAKER’: Most countries believe that it is China — rather than Taiwan — that is undermining regional peace and stability with its coercive tactics, the president said China should restrain itself and refrain from being a troublemaker that sabotages peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks after China Coast Guard vessels sailed into disputed waters off the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — following a remark Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made regarding Taiwan. Takaichi during a parliamentary session on Nov. 7 said that a “Taiwan contingency” involving a Chinese naval blockade could qualify as a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, and trigger Tokyo’s deployment of its military for defense. Asked about the escalating tensions
INTERCEPTION: The 30km test ceiling shows that the CSIST is capable of producing missiles that could stop inbound missiles as they re-enter the atmosphere Recent missile tests by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) show that Taiwan’s missiles are capable of intercepting ballistic missiles as they re-enter the atmosphere and pose a significant deterrent to Chinese missile threats, former Hsiung Feng III missile development project chief engineer Chang Cheng (張誠) said yesterday. The military-affiliated institute has been conducting missile tests, believed to be related to Project Chiang Kung (強弓) at Pingtung County’s Jiupeng Military Base, with many tests deviating from past practices of setting restriction zones at “unlimited” and instead clearly stating a 30.48km range, Chang said. “Unlimited” restrictions zones for missile tests is
RSS