Duplicity

"Despite Chan’s confession, the Hong Kong police couldn't charge him with the murder since it occurred outside their jurisdiction in Taiwan."

Last week Taiwan accepted the extradition of two suspected gunmen from the Mainland. Hung Cheng-chun (洪政軍), aka "Red Turtle," and Kung Hsiang-chih (孔祥志) stand accused of involvement in the 88 shots incident in Tainan City on 10th November 2022. 

The pair opened fire at two locations, including the offices of the Democratic Progressive Party. No injuries resulted despite the discharge of 88 rounds. Yet, the timing of the attack, close to local elections, and the venues suggest a political motive. Details are here.

Both were arrested in Quanzhou city on the Mainland and returned to Taiwan last Saturday accompanied by Taiwanese officials. Moreover, according to media reports, China has produced 56 Taiwanese suspects over the past six years, while Taiwan extradited five suspects to China. 

But, of course, the Western media never reports any of this stuff. Their simple narrative is that China and Taiwan don’t cooperate, and are in a state of near-war. This is far from the truth because the relationship is more complex than such a monochromatic view.

Still, these renditions beg the question of why is a murder suspect who sparked months of social disorder, which dislocated Hong Kong, unable to return to Taiwan to face justice.

In October 2017, 20-year-old Hongkonger Amber Poon Hiu-wing began dating Chan Tong-kai. The pair shared their relationship on social media. The couple decided to celebrate Valentine's Day in Taiwan the following year. Poon was now three months pregnant, a fact she'd kept from her family and friends. 

On February 16, 2018, the night before the couple booked to return to Hong Kong, they went shopping. They purchased a pink suitcase and took it back to the hotel. Poon was never seen in public again.

Chan arrived back in Hong Kong without Poon. Within days Poon’s family reported her missing. When questioned by Hong Kong police, Chan confessed to killing Poon during an argument over her relationship with an ex-boyfriend.

Based on details provided by the Hong Kong police, Taiwanese officers found Chan's body inside the pink suitcase hidden in the undergrowth of a park. 

Despite Chan’s confession, the Hong Kong police couldn't charge him with the murder since it occurred outside their jurisdiction in Taiwan. More importantly, and here is the main complication, the two governments have no formal extradition agreements, although they did have experience in informally handing over criminals.

In 2016, three murder suspects fled from Hong Kong to Taiwan. Once known, the Taiwanese cancelled their tourist visas and repatriated them to Hong Kong. As a result, Hong Kong police arrested them when they landed at the airport.

But this time, in a marked departure from past practice, Taiwan sought a formal legal assistance treaty. Given Hong Kong's status and Taiwan's position, they must have known that any such a treaty is impossible as tantamount to acknowledging Taiwan as an independent entity. That is something the Hong Kong government couldn't contemplate.

With Poon's family clamouring for justice, the Hong Kong government proposed the Fugitive Offenders Bill. This mechanism would allow the rendition to places that didn't have formal agreements with Hong Kong. Within weeks these proposals catalysed protests with escalating violence that rocked Hong Kong from 2019 until mid-2020.

In the meantime, Chan faced fraud charges for his misuse of Poon's credit card in Hong Kong with a sentence of 29 months. Released in October 2019, he vowed to surrender himself to the Taiwanese police but has failed to do so. 

Instead, his guardian, the Reverend Peter Koon of the Hong Kong Anglican Church, told local media that Chan, "spends all his time playing video games and watching television".

The case is now at an impasse. The Hong Kong government's position is that Chan remains "a free man" and could turn himself in if Taiwan issued him a visa to travel.

The Taiwanese, meanwhile, assert they can't issue a visa since there is already a warrant out for Chan as a murder suspect. They continue to press for a treaty in an evident self-serving political move. And yet, the artifice of the Taiwanese position is now on full display given the rendition of the 88 shooting incident suspects. In the pursuit of their political aims they’ve thrown common decency away.

With Taiwan keen to attract Hong Kong tourists as Covid restrictions ease, the issue is again a hot topic. What will happen if other Hongkongers commit a crime in Taiwan and flee? And vice-versa. Doubtless this will happen. 

All things considered, the saga of "Red Turtle" and Kung suggests a solution is possible once you step back, remove the politics, and act with pragmatism. Then, five years after the event, Amber Poon's family may receive a sliver of justice and relief from their torment.