New Zealand yesterday announced that it would suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong.
The move came after China passed sweeping new security legislation for the territory.
New Zealand is the final member of the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance to take such action after the Australia, Britain, Canada and the US previously announced similar measures.
New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said that the new legislation goes against commitments China made to the international community.
“New Zealand can no longer trust that Hong Kong’s criminal justice system is sufficiently independent from China,” Peters said.
Moreover, Wellington would treat military and technology exports to Hong Kong in the same way as it treats such exports to China, Peters said.
New Zealand has also updated its travel advice to warn its citizens about the risks they face under the new legislation.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that the nation is following its principles.
“We do have a mature relationship with China,” Ardern said. “There have been occasions where we have taken different positions. This obviously will be one of them.”
China’s embassy in Wellington, led by Ambassador Wu Xi (吳璽), said that New Zealand should stop interfering in China’s affairs.
“The New Zealand government’s decision is a serious violation of international law and basic norms governing international relations,” the embassy said in a statement. “It is a gross interference in China’s internal affairs. The Chinese side has lodged its grave concern and strong opposition.”
Peters said that New Zealand had taken its stance independently of its Five Eyes partners and was not concerned about any effects on exports.
“We are surely entitled as a democracy to make our views known,” he said.
New Zealand remains deeply concerned about the legislation and would monitor the situation in Hong Kong as the legislation is enforced, he said.
Later in the day, China announced that Hong Kong’s extradition treaties with Canada, Australia and Britain would be suspended.
“The wrong action of Canada, Australia and the UK in politicizing judicial cooperation with Hong Kong has seriously hurt the basis of judicial cooperation,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) said at a regular news briefing in Beijing.
“China has decided to suspend extradition treaties between Hong Kong and Canada, Australia and UK, as well as criminal justice cooperation agreements,” Wang said.
The Chinese government reserves the right to take action against New Zealand’s move, he added.
Wang said that the countries were using Hong Kong’s legislation as “an excuse to unilaterally announce the suspension of extradition treaties” with the territory.
Additional reporting by AFP
FRENCH AID: Paris has sent a navy ship and aircraft from Reunion Island with some pollution control equipment, but rough seas are spreading the oil spill The operator of a Japanese bulk carrier which ran aground off Mauritius in the Indian Ocean yesterday apologized for a major oil spill, which officials and environmentalists say is creating an ecological disaster, as police prepared to board the ship. The MV Wakashio, operated by Mitsui OSK Lines, struck the reef on Mauritius’ southeast coast on July 25. “We apologize profusely and deeply for the great trouble we have caused,” Mitsui OSK Lines executive vice president Akihiko Ono said at a news conference in Tokyo. The company would “do everything in their power to resolve the issue,” he said. At least 1,000 tonnes of
Three Micronesian sailors stranded on a remote Pacific island have been found alive and well after a rescue team spotted their giant SOS message written into the sand on a beach. Australian and US military aircraft found the three men on tiny Pikelot island, nearly 200km west of where they had set off. Rescuers said that the men were “in good condition” with no significant injuries. The men had been missing for three days after their 7m skiff ran out of fuel and strayed off course. Authorities in the US territory of Guam raised the alarm on Saturday after the men failed to complete
A cat that went missing on a family holiday on the shores of Loch Lomond, Scotland, has been identified 12 years later. Tortoiseshell-and-white Georgie spent October half term in 2008 with her owners at the Rowardennan campsite, but vanished as they were due to return home to Greater Manchester, England. After a search of the site the Davies family departed without Georgie, hoping the three-year-old microchipped feline would be located by someone. Over the intervening 12 years, she remained close to the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park site, being fed and cared for by campsite staff and holidaymakers. After the COVID-19 pandemic hit and lockdown
LIFELONG LOSS: Jiro Hamasumi, who was not quite born when an atomic bomb hit Hiroshima, lost his father and other relatives, but said he thinks about his father daily As Japan marks 75 years since the devastating attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the last generation of nuclear bomb survivors is working to ensure their message lives on after them. The “hibakusha” — literally “person affected by the bomb” — have for decades been a powerful voice calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. There are an estimated 136,700 left, many of whom were infants or soon to be born at the time of the attacks. The average age of a survivor now is a little over 83, according to the Japanese Ministry of Health, lending an urgency as they share their testimonies
RSS