Dear Editor,
Your editorial “No Escape From Hong Kong” (Oct 1, 2020), is misleading and ignores basic facts, not least that the 12 Hong Kong suspects were arrested by authorities in Guangdong Province for illegally crossing the boundary. Their case has nothing to do with freedom to travel.
They are all wanted persons for serious crimes. Ten have been charged with a range of serious offences in Hong Kong such as making of explosives, arson, conspiracy to wound, possession of offensive weapons, riot and assaulting police officers, and were subject to court bail conditions that included not leaving Hong Kong. Investigations by the authorities have revealed that the 12 had paid a fee to a smuggling syndicate in an attempt to take them to Taiwan to evade criminal responsibility for their actions.
No jurisdiction in the world would or could agree that an attempted escape from criminal liability is acceptable or upholds the rule of law.
Current Covid-19 restrictions aside, unless restrained by law, all Hong Kong residents are free to come and go as they please in accordance with the freedom to travel guaranteed in Article 31 of our Basic Law.
Yours sincerely,
John K.C. Lee
Secretary for Security
Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
(The article was published on Wall Street Journal on Oct 8, 2020)