TNAG-1708-FCO40-2383-Hong-Kong-narcotics-offences-and-drug-trafficking-1987 — Page 155

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5.

The Joint Declaration contains no provisions on "rendition"

of offenders between Hong Kong and China and at present no arrangements exist. By 1997, at latest, it is only realistic to

expect that the Chinese will want to have some means of obtaining

the return of an offender to the courts of the mainland if he fled

to Hong Kong after committing an offence (and vice-versa). The

incompatibility of the legal systems and penal codes of Hong Kong

and China will make satisfactory arrangements difficult to achieve.

Public opinion in Hong Kong is, with justification, very suspicious

of the Chinese system of justice, and will be anxious that any

arrangements should contain safeguards no less extensive than those which apply at present for the return of fugitives between Hong Kong

and other jurisdictions.

6.

The Chinese accept that arrangements will have to be made,

but as yet it is far from clear what they might have in mind. They have no practical experience of extradition arrangements and their

thinking is probably at a very preliminary stage. We are therefore

trying to influence it by introducing the subject of post-1997 extradition (i.e. arrangements with third countries) to the Joint

Liaison Group. We have argued that Hong Kong, as a major international trading and financial centre, will need extradition arrangements in place after 1997 and have proposed that the best way of achieving this will be for Hong Kong to be authorised to conclude its own extradition treaties before 1997, based on existing arrangements under UK treaties, capable of remaining in force after

Our strategy is to attempt to get the Chinese to agree that such arrangements should be established in respect of third

countries so as to invoke them as precedents for arrangements between Hong Kong and the mainland which we hope the Chinese will be

persuaded to adopt.

1997.

7.

This is a delicate exercise and our ability to influence

what is, ultimately, an internal aspect of Chinese post-1997

arrangements may prove to be limited. The Chinese have so far reacted cautiously to our proposals as regards third countries. have yet to get into a substantive exchange with them and we have as yet made no specific proposals as regards the return of offenders to the mainland.

We

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