Skip to main content
Advertise with the Morning Star
Hong Kong and the politics of extradition
KENNY COYLE explains how the Hong Kong protests came about and how chief executive Carrie Lam’s botched legislation has inflamed the situation
Protesters defacing the Legislative Council chamber and mounting a colonial-era British flag

OVER the past few weeks hundreds of thousands in Hong Kong have protested against the proposed introduction of a global extradition Bill. The largely peaceful demonstrations filled the front pages and the airwaves of the Western corporate media.

Western news outlets unquestioningly repeated the inflated figures of one and two million provided by the organisers, the Civil Human Rights Front, ignoring more objective estimates by local academics. 

While the figures are more likely to be around 20 per cent of the headline figures, the fact remains that a huge number Hong Kong citizens took to the streets to voice their anger and concern.

  • The crime must have been committed within the jurisdiction of the requesting country, not within the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
  • It must be a crime which is also considered an offence under Hong Kong law too.
  • Extradition for overtly political or religious reasons is expressly prohibited.
  • There must be no question of the crime being a disguise for secondary charges related to political or religious “crimes.”
  • The minimum sentence for the crime must be at least seven years, ruling out all but the most serious categories.
  • Those facing extradition must have the grounds for their deportation investigated and confirmed by a Hong Kong court. They also have the right to appeal.
The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
HMS Spey in Brisbane, Australia ahead of the England v Nigeria Women's World Cup match. The arrival of the state-of-the-art Offshore Patrol Vessel HMS Spey marks the first visit of the Royal Navy to Brisbane since the HMS Monmouth in 1995. Picture date: Monday August 7th, 2023
Features / 15 August 2025
15 August 2025

From 35,000 troops in Talisman Sabre war games to HMS Spey provocations in the Taiwan Strait, Labour continues Tory militarisation — all while claiming to uphold ‘one China’ diplomatic agreements from 1972, reports KENNY COYLE

(L to R) Hans Hess in June 1966 at the York Mystery Plays and Festival in York, England and aged 22 with his mother Thekla, née Pauson in the Summer of 1930 in the garden of their estate in Erfurt / pics (L to R) Virgil Lucky/CC and Alfred Hess (Hans’ father)
Features / 1 August 2025
1 August 2025

The creative imagination is a weapon against barbarism, writes KENNY COYLE, who is a keynote speaker at the Manifesto Press conference, Art in the Age of Degenerative Capitalism, tomorrow at the Marx Memorial Library & Workers School in London

Duterte’s arrest: justice for the Filipino people won’t
Features / 17 March 2025
17 March 2025
While the West celebrates Duterte’s extradition, the selective application of international law reveals deeper geopolitical motives behind the prosecution of a leader from a poor, exploited nation, argues KENNY COYLE
A TV screen shows a file image of South Korean President Yoo
Features / 6 January 2025
6 January 2025
Between military provocations against the DPRK and factional warfare at home, President Yoon’s martial law crisis continues to rock the South Korean state — and the US has to have known it was coming, writes KENNY COYLE
Similar stories
China embassy demo
Features / 16 August 2025
16 August 2025

From anonymous surveys claiming Chinese students are spying on each other to a meltdown about the size of China’s London embassy, the evidence is everywhere that Britain is embracing full spectrum Sinophobia as the war clouds gather, writes CARLOS MARTINEZ

Activists hold a photo of former Philippine President Rodrig
Features / 19 March 2025
19 March 2025
While the West celebrates Duterte’s extradition, the selective application of international law reveals deeper geopolitical motives behind the prosecution of a leader from a poor, exploited nation, argues KENNY COYLE
Duterte’s arrest: justice for the Filipino people won’t
Features / 17 March 2025
17 March 2025
While the West celebrates Duterte’s extradition, the selective application of international law reveals deeper geopolitical motives behind the prosecution of a leader from a poor, exploited nation, argues KENNY COYLE