China investigates Hong Kong bookseller over mail sales

Lawmaker James To Kun-sun told Apple Daily that if Lee has the right to live in the United Kingdom, it would mean that he is a British citizen and that he would have to give up his citizenship in accordance to the law.

He said the booksellers had “explored ways to circumvent official inspections in China”, including changing book covers or concealing books in bags.

The report said that Lui, Cheung and Lee were detained in Shenzhen and Dongguan, side-stepping concerns that they may have been illegally taken from Hong Kong by representatives of the Chinese government.

This latest surprising turn of events continues to make the situation not look great for Gui Minhai, who made a tearful televised confession in January to killing a student while drunk driving on the mainland more than a decade ago.

Four of the men – Mr Gui Minhai, Mr Lui Por, Mr Cheung Chi Ping and Mr Lam Wing Kee – gave details of their alleged offences to Phoenix Television on Sunday night (Feb 28).

Lam said the books published by the group were “fabricated”, and nothing but a compilation of online sources and magazine articles.

“I have deeply reflected on what I have done and very much regret the illegal book trading I have carried out with Gui Minhai”, said Mr Lui in the Phoenix TV report.

Lee said he had given incriminating evidence on “some people” to Chinese police and feared reprisals if they knew he had left.

“They have given rise to many rumors and had a bad influence on society…” “I deeply acknowledge my mistakes and am willing to be penalized”.

The only bookseller not to appear in the report was Mr Lee Bo, a British passport holder, who Britain said had been “involuntarily removed” to China from Hong Kong in late December, constituting a “serious breach” of a bilateral treaty between the two countries.

It isn’t clear if Gui or the others were coerced into making their statements.

“[This could] all have been dictated to them by the authorities”, he said. “They treat me very well”.

Choi said the Alliance doesn’t accept the accounts of the men’s activities given in the Phoenix TV report. Based on the official numbers, the possibility that the 2.5% drop in arrivals registered last year will be repeated or even aggravated this year is quite real, according to experts.

The five booksellers – including a British and Swedish national – had been linked to a Hong Kong publisher and bookstore that specialised in scandalous books on the private lives and power struggles of China’s Communist Party leaders.

It said that Mr Lam, Mr Liu and Mr Cheung would all return to Hong Kong in the “near future” because they had “good attitudes”. It is unclear how Phoenix – which is privately owned in Hong Kong but seen as closely aligned with Beijing – gained access to the detained men.

But the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the official gambling operator in the southern Chinese city, said it does not plan to offer bets for CSL matches.

Reported by Wen Yuqing for RFA’s Cantonese Service, and by Xin Lin for the Mandarin Service.