The mother of a murdered Hong Kong woman yesterday blasted the authorities for allowing her daughter’s killer to live as a free man, a case that has festered because China does not recognize Taiwan.
Poon Hiu-wing (潘曉穎), 19, was pregnant when she was strangled by her boyfriend, Chan Tong-kai (陳同佳), during a Valentine’s Day trip to Taiwan in 2018.
The murder, which Chan has admitted to, sparked a chain reaction that led to huge democracy protests the following year and has been a source of embarrassment for the Hong Kong government.
Photo: AP
Poon’s mother — who has never revealed her name — held an emotional news conference outside the government headquarters yesterday, calling on authorities to either fly Chan to Taiwan or prosecute him locally for murder.
“The Hong Kong government believes that this felon, who can kill again at any time, is fit to walk the streets and threaten people’s lives,” she told reporters.
Chan had “never faced consequences for murder,” she said, after it was revealed earlier this month that he had left police protection and was free to live a normal life.
Hong Kong prosecutors said that they had no jurisdiction to try him for murder. They also declined to send Chan to Taiwan.
After Poon’s murder, the territory tried to pass a law that would allow extraditions to both Taiwan and mainland China, but that sparked protests by Hong Kongers who feared that the law could see them disappear into mainland China’s opaque courts.
Those rallies soon morphed into huge and often violent democracy demonstrations, which convulsed the territory for seven straight months in 2019.
Chan served a short jail sentence in Hong Kong on money laundering charges, as he was in possession of Poon’s credit card on his return from Taiwan. It was during those proceedings that he admitted to killing her.
Chan previously said via an intermediary that he was willing to face justice in Taiwan, but no steps have been taken by him or the Hong Kong authorities to make that happen.
Taiwan and Hong Kong have blamed each other over the impasse.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we