Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers say they’ll press the government for answers after a fifth employee of a publisher specializing in books critical of China’s ruling communists went missing. Nevertheless, Sophie Choi, Mr Lee’s wife, has withdrawn her request for authorities to simply help locate him saying he’s experienced contact.
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In a related instance, the Swedish national Gui Minhai, the owner of the publishing house, Mighty Current, that owns the bookstore, disappeared while on holiday in Thailand in October. Two employees, Zhang Zhiping and Lin Rongji, were also last seen in southern China in October, according to Bei, local news media reports in Hong Kong and statements from human rights organisations.
In this free-wheeling, specially-administered corner of China, several publishing houses and bookshops have spent years churning out books banned on the Chinese mainland.
She reported him missing to police Friday and said the call he made to her was from a number in the neighbouring Chinese city of Shenzhen.
We are deeply concerned by reports about the disappearance and detention of individuals associated with the Causeway Bay Books bookstore in Hong Kong. “This book has not yet gone to print, but probably it has something to do with this book”.
The disappearances have stoked fears of mainland Chinese authorities using shadowy tactics that erode the “one country, two systems” formula under which Hong Kong returned to China.
At a regular briefing Monday, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: “I’m not aware of the situation; I have nothing to offer”, when asked about the latest bookseller to disappear, Lee Bo, who went missing last week.
A photo of the handwritten letter was first published by Taiwan’s government-affiliated Central News Agency late on Monday.
“If Chinese authorities truly masterminded the abduction of Mr. Lee and his colleagues”, Sim added, “Hong Kong’s free society may have come to an end”.
Opposition leaders in Hong Kong say they believe he has been taken across the border to China against his will.
A source said Lee, 65, was last seen in Hong Kong on Wednesday at the publisher’s warehouse, which he is in charge of.
The hacker group Anonymous has vowed to attack Chinese government websites in retaliation for not allowing Hong Kong to maintain the high degree of autonomy it was promised before the handover, according to a video posted to YouTube.
The Basic Law guarantees wide-ranging personal freedoms, including freedom of speech, and independent law enforcement overseen by an independent judiciary.
“The freedom of the press, the freedom of publication and the freedom of expression are protected by laws in Hong Kong”, Leung said.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, on a visit to Beijing, said he pressed officials for information on Lee.
“It might take a bit of time”, it said.
“Hong Kong people are very shocked and appalled”, Mr Ho said.
A duty officer from the Hong Kong Police Public Relations Bureau tells CNN police are still investigating and the case continues to be classified as a missing person case.
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Echoing the thoughts of fellow opposition politicians, Lee Cheuk-yan, a pro-democracy lawmaker, said he suspected mainland authorities had pressed the couple to change their stories.
