Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong

Timely analysis of the rule of law and extradition in Hong Kong's history through the legal case of Ho Chi Minh.

Geoffrey C. Gunn (Author)

9781108978224, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 March 2023

282 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.415 kg

It was the trial of a century in colonial Hong Kong when, in 1931–33, Ho Chi Minh - the future President of Vietnam - faced down deportation to French-controlled territory with a death sentence dangling over him. Thanks to his appeal to English common law, Ho Chi Minh won his reprieve. With extradition a major political issue in Hong Kong today, Geoffrey C. Gunn's examination of the legal case of Ho Chi Minh offers a timely insight into the rule of law and the issue of extradition in the former British colony. Utilizing little known archival material, Gunn sheds new light on Ho Chi Minh, communist and anti-colonial networks and Franco–British relations.

Introduction
1. Setting up in Hong Kong and arrest
2. Early life in France and move back to Asia
3. The parallel case of Tan Malaka
4. In revolutionary Guangzhou
5. Mounting the defense: Ho Chi Minh's prison experience
6. Legal process: Trial and tribulations
7. Media coverage of the arrest and trial
8. The French diplomatic demarche
9. The privy council verdict, release and afterlife
Epilogue.

Subject Areas: Legal history [LAZ], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], Asian history [HBJF]