Where Hong Kong and Mainland China Have Extradition Pacts

When it comes to extradition agreements, mainland China and Hong Kong have very little overlap, underscoring the difference in their historic political alliances.

Hong Kong—a former British colony—has pacts with 30 countries and jurisdictions around the world. Of those, only nine have established similar agreements with the mainland, which has a total of 39. Countries missing from the list of China’s extradition allies include Australia, Canada, India, the U.K. and the U.S.

Hong Kong’s government is attempting to pass a law that would for the first time allow extraditions to mainland China, sparking widespread concern that it could fundamentally alter the city’s relationship with the mainland by making it more susceptible to Beijing’s political demands.

There are also fears it will be used to punish political dissidents, civil rights activists or others who run afoul of the Chinese government, amid President Xi Jinping’s increasing campaign of influence over the financial hub.

If passed, the new extradition bill would apply to Hong Kong citizens, foreign residents and even people passing through on business visas or as tourists.

Though Hong Kong is part of China, it has its own independent legal and judicial system. The city doesn’t have capital punishment, while Amnesty International cited the mainland as the world’s “leading executioner” in 2018.

Certain countries around the world, including France, can refuse to extradite a suspect who could face capital punishment in China. Hong Kong’s bill includes a similar restriction.

While legal experts differ on how often and under what circumstances this could happen, they agree that third-country extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China is possible under the new bill. A person residing in the U.S.—or any country that has an extradition agreement with Hong Kong—could technically be transferred from the city to mainland China, according to Jerome Cohen, a law professor at New York University.

“Unless there is some specific understanding barring a re-extradition from Hong Kong, I do not see a barrier to Hong Kong extraditing to the mainland someone who has been delivered to Hong Kong from another country,” he said. “I think that some countries with existing extradition treaties with Hong Kong will surely want to amend the agreements to exclude the re-extradition possibility or will terminate them.”

Others think there could be a caveat for this to happen: Hong Kong would need to have accused the person of a crime against its residents, and China would in principle need to demand the person be transferred for the same offense, said Ryan Mitchell, a law professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.