Hong Kong Investigating Reportedly Missing People From Bookstore

Lee’s wife, Sophie Choi, confirmed he was in Hong Kong on that date but went missing that evening. She had 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.

Another man who went missing is Gui Minhai, a Swedish national and co-owner of the Mighty Current publishing company. Missing person reports have been filed for three others, it said.

Hong Kong opposition lawmakers protested on Sunday outside Beijing’s representative office over Lee’s disappearance. Police have asked China whether Mr Lee has been detained on the mainland and are awaiting a reply, acting secretary for security John Lee said yesterday. The press conference was arranged as “it has been said that the incident may involve mainland legal enforcement agencies enforcing law in Hong Kong”, he said.

In a video posted on YouTube at the weekend, a person claiming to be from Anonymous said in a synthesized voice that he was disappointed that China was not abiding by the “one country, two systems” agreement. However, the practice is unheard of in Hong Kong, which enjoys special status with levels of press freedom and political rights unknown on the mainland. She added Lee spoke to her in Mandarin even though the pair usually communicated in Cantonese.

Mr Leung, is it a safe place for publishers to publish books that are critical of the Central Government, because there are fears that Lee Bo was abducted by Mainland police officers across the border?

Pro-Beijing lawmaker and former Hong Kong security chief Regina Ip urged the city’s government to “seriously handle the matter” as mainland officials were not entitled to carry out official duties in Hong Kong.

He said that one possible explanation for the disappearances was that the publishing company was being pressured to scrap plans for an upcoming book rumoured to be about an old “girlfriend or mistress” of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Hong Kong’s leader has appealed for information after the mysterious disappearance of five people linked to a publisher of books critical of China.

David Bandurski, editor of the China Media Project at the University of Hong Kong, said Mighty Current publishes the “most sensitive facts and speculation about senior leadership”. “This book has not yet gone to print, but probably it has something to do with this book”.

Leung said he and his government were highly concerned about case and would follow up on it comprehensively. Hong Kong’s minority pro-democracy lawmakers were even more forceful. Active in the #UmbrellaMovement he attends protests and offers updates via Twitter, also with Vine and this morning January 4, 2016, he covered the current hot case of what appears to be kidnapping by mainland authorities of Hong Kong citizens.

Mr Lee had been speaking to the media about their disappearances on the condition his full name would not be revealed. “I think it is quite clear that the government is very keen to make sure that the university is not opposing the government”.