4 | Monday, May 27, 2019 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY CHINA Tong blames foreign View from best seat Briefly SHANXI Five drug dealers meddling for growing sentenced to death Five people were sentenced to extradition controversy death for drug dealing by the Jin­ cheng Intermediate People’s By CHEN ZIMO in Hong Kong Court on Friday. Three others [email protected] received death sentences with reprieves, and one received a life Executive Councilor and bar­ Some Hong Kong sentence. The rest of the 23 rister Ronny Tong Ka­wah has individuals and defendants were sentenced to blamed foreign forces for escalat­ three to 16 years’ imprisonment. ing the controversy over planned local media The gang sold 84 kilograms of revisions to Hong Kong’s extradi­ organizations have drugs between September 2016 tion laws. and January 2017. Drug traffick­ Speaking on a local news pro­ utterly strayed from ing is a felony in China. A person gram on Saturday, he said such reality by portraying can receive the death penalty if intervention by other countries convicted of selling or producing has raised the central govern­ the issue as a more than 50 grams of narcotics, ment’s concerns about the issue. political scheme .” such as heroin. As a result, he said it’s unfortu­ nate that trying to turn things Tong Ka-wah , executive BEIJING around at this stage would be dif­ councilor and barrister in Hong Kong SAR Community healthcare ficult. The SAR government proposed workers on the rise changing the Fugitive Offenders They have been misleading the China had 582,000 community and the Mutual Legal Assistance public by deliberately dissemi­ healthcare workers at the end in Criminal Matters Ordinance in nating wrongful information on of 2018, a 5.1 percent increase March in response to a murder the law revision, he said. A child in a Tibet Opera mask joins the crowd watching an opera performance in Lhasa, Tibet autono­ over the previous year, the case involving a Hong Kong man One of the unfounded allega­ mous region, on Saturday. Every Saturday until July, opera performers from various counties in Lhasa National Health Commission in Taiwan this year, to enable tions is that Chief Executive Car­ will present a free show to enrich people’s appreciation of culture. HE PENGLEI / CHINA NEWS SERVICE said in its statistical report on Hong Kong to surrender fugitive rie Lam Cheng Yuet­ngor would development of the nation’s offenders on a case­by­case basis be empowered to force Hong medical and healthcare sector to jurisdictions that do not have Kong courts to surrender fugi­ for 2018. The country had formal extradition arrangements tives deemed unsuitable for ren­ 9,352 community health cen­ with the SAR, including Taiwan, dition. ters at year’s end, an increase Macao and the Chinese main­ But, Tong explained, this would of 205 from the year before. land. go against the proposed amend­ The centers received 640 mil­ Worries about rendition lion outpatient visits with 3.4 Tong also criticized the behav­ ments, which stipulate that while ior of opposition legislators, who the Chief Executive can activate a million patients admitted — have repeatedly blocked the rendition process, it’s the courts both up from 2017, the report amendments using filibustering that will decide whether or not to said. tactics, for exacerbating the situ­ hand over fugitives to other juris­ ation. dictions, and the Chief Executive changes will be allayed: Lam Plane’s windshield The Legislative Council’s could reject any decision to extra­ cracked by hail House Committee passed a dite a suspect. motion on Friday to resume the The barrister said he hoped the By SHADOW LI in Hong Kong negative reports on the issue as U­turn on the issue after coming to A China Southern Airlines flight second reading of the amend­ proposed changes would present [email protected] many foreign governments could realize that Hong Kong courts will made a safe landing at Beijing ment bill at a full council meeting a clearer account of the issue to not have first­hand knowledge of oversee all extradition cases and Capital Airport on Sunday morn­ on June 12 to break the impasse. ease the public’s worries. For The Hong Kong Special Admin­ Hong Kong’s internal affairs. that people’s rights will be protect­ ing after its windshield was hit Tong added that some Hong instance, such concerns could be istrative Region is confident that Foreign authorities have merely ed. by hail and cracks appeared dur­ Kong individuals and local media eliminated by stipulating that the the apprehension and fears stirred declared their stance on the issue, Tam Yiu­chung – Hong Kong’s ing the landing. The flight, from organizations have utterly Chief Executive be given the veto up by certain sectors and foreign she said, and have not been able to sole representative on the Stand­ Guangzhou, Guangdong prov­ strayed from reality by portray­ power in cases involving poten­ governments over proposed pinpoint what they’re really wor­ ing Committee of National People’s ince, to Beijing, arrived safely, the ing the issue as a political scheme tial extraditions of Hong Kong changes to the city’s extradition ried about. Congress, the nation’s top legisla­ airline said. The nose of the air­ targeting some politicians in the permanent residents or Chinese laws will ultimately be dispelled, The SAR government will con­ ture – also said he found the objec­ craft was also damaged. The air­ city. nationals. says Chief Executive Carrie Lam tinue to listen to the views of the tions raised by foreign port had canceled 111 out of 436 Cheng Yuet­ngor. international community, who governments on the law revisions scheduled flights as of noon on The revamp, she reiterated, is might have been misled by some “confusing”. Sunday due to thunderstorms built on globally recognized mech­ people, and it will strive to explain He questioned the logic for and hail. Improper repair blamed anisms that provide adequate pro­ the rationale behind the law revi­ Hong Kong being made an excep­ tection for human rights, with sions, Lam added. tion when similar rendition YUNNAN both the SAR government and The Legislative Council’s House arrangements are common in New African swine in fatal leak on cargo ship Hong Kong courts to act as “gate­ Committee passed a motion on Fri­ many countries and regions fever case reported keepers” in all future rendition day to resume the second reading around the world. cases. of the Fugitive Offenders and He said the controversy China has confirmed a new out­ By ZHAO RUIXUE in Jinan mation office of Weihai. All are in Speaking on the sidelines of a Mutual Legal Assistance in Crimi­ stemmed from some Hong Kong break of African swine fever in [email protected] stable condition. seminar on Saturday, Lam hit out nal Matters Bill at a full council people’s mistrust of the Chinese Yanshan county of Yunnan Those suspected of being at certain Hong Kong individuals, meeting on June 12. mainland, and who have been province, the Ministry of Agri­ A carbon dioxide leak on a responsible for the accident are in who have gone to great lengths The move came after a bills com­ using the matter to tarnish the culture and Rural Affairs said ship that killed 10 people in police custody. “raising the eyebrows” of foreign mittee tasked with vetting the pro­ nation’s image. on Saturday. Nearly 50 pigs Shandong province was likely Vice­Premier Sun Chunlan, governments and organizations by posed overhaul of the legislation The SAR government said the were confirmed dead, the minis­ caused by improper repair pro­ State Councilor Wang Yong and making one­sided statements on remained deadlocked in the past proposed law changes are aimed at try said, citing a China Animal cedures, local authorities said on Huang Ming, Party chief of the the planned amendments. month after failing to elect a chair­ plugging a legal loophole follow­ Health and Epidemiology Cen­ Sunday. Ministry of Emergency Manage­ Without naming them, she not­ person due to continued filibuster­ ing a murder case in Taiwan ter report. A team was dis­ The gas leaked as work was being ment, have all instructed local ed they had gone overseas in ing by opposition legislators. involving a Hong Kong resident patched to the region, and local done on the fire prevention system authorities to properly handle the recent months, cooking up biased Until then, Lam said the govern­ who returned to the SAR after flee­ authorities have initiated an of a cargo ship on Saturday, the aftermath of the incident. accounts of the matter. ment will continue to listen to vari­ ing the island. The new law, when emergency response to block, emergency management team said. The cargo ship, Jinhaixiang, is Coincidentally, those countries ous sectors’ opinions and make a passed, will enable Hong Kong to cull and disinfect affected pigs. The leak occurred at around 4 owned by Fujian Shipping Co. The that have expressed concerns thorough response in the legisla­ surrender fugitive suspects on a Transport of all pigs and related pm at Longyan Port in Rong­ company sent staff to Weihai to include the United States, Canada ture. case­by­case basis to other juris­ products out of or into the cheng, Weihai. handle the aftermath of the acci­ and some European nations that Chief Secretary for Administra­ dictions that have no formal rendi­ blockade zone is forbidden, the Nineteen people who were dent. those individuals had visited. tion Matthew Cheung Kin­chung tion agreements with the SAR, ministry said. injured were being treated in local The ship was built in Japan in Lam said she believes the disqui­ said on Saturday some foreign including Taiwan, Macao and the hospitals, according to the infor­ 1994. It arrived at the port on May 17. et has been fueled by extensive business groups have now made a Chinese mainland. CHINA DAILY—XINHUA