Five Hong Kong Booksellers Critical of China Disappear

Hong Kong police have asked their Chinese counterparts about the 65-year-old bookseller, who disappeared from Hong Kong several months after four others related to the store vanished.

The Causeway Bay Bookstore, the bookstore established by Lee in 1994, is popular among mainland tourists as they can buy political books which are banned in their hometown.

Lee Bo, who works for the Causeway Bay bookshop which is owned by the publisher Mighty Current, was last seen on Wednesday in the company’s Chai Wan warehouse after he went to deliver books to a customer.

Hong Kong police are investigating the disappearance of Mr Lee and three others, while a fifth person – a Swedish citizen – is reported to have disappeared in Thailand.

Hong Kong’s constitution grants it independent law enforcement, but the shadowy disappearances have stoked concern that mainland authorities are undermining the city’s special status.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association is now asking China’s government to at least confirm whether or not the men are being held in the mainland.

Four of his business associates, publisher Gui Minhai, general manager Lui Bo and colleagues Cheung Jiping and Lam Wing-kei have gone missing under similar circumstances since October, although some have called to let their families know they are alive and well, suggesting they are now in detention in China.

Local legislator Albert Ho claims Mr Lee, also known as Paul Lee, was kidnapped and taken to the mainland.

Lee Cheuk-yan, a pro-democracy lawmaker, said that while Hong Kong officials had sought information from Chinese law enforcement agencies over the case, they had yet to respond, showing a clear “failing” in the reporting and communication mechanism between both sides.

“The freedom of the press and freedom of publication and freedom of expression are protected by laws in Hong Kong”, Leung said.

Leung said that the government is very concerned about the incident, and also about the rights and safety of local residents outside Hong Kong.

In an editorial, it said the case had been “sensationalized” in Hong Kong, arguing there was no point in “political speculation” while the investigation was continuing. “Liaison of the Central People’s Government of Hong Kong explain!” “A spokesman had shouted:” You’re Hong Kong police, not Communist Party police. She said the Security Bureau and police could deal with the case more swiftly than corresponding back and forth with the NPC. First, Lee is indeed “assisting an investigation” in the Chinese mainland.

Demonstrators on Sunday said the disappearance is part of China’s gradual process of grinding down freedom and autonomy in the city.

On New Year’s Eve, the Hong Kong government quietly installed Arthur Li, a pro-Beijing figure to chair Hong Kong University (HKU), after the rejection of a liberal candidate for pro-vice chancellor.

The disappearances have raised fears that Beijing is tightening its grip on Hong Kong, a semiautonomous territory that enjoys civil liberties such as freedom of the press that don’t exist on the mainland.

There has been no official comment form the Chinese authorities. “I mean, under Hong Kong law, or ‘One Country, Two Systems, ‘ how could it possibly happen?”

Ho said that the publishing house had been planning on publishing a book about the “love affairs” of China’s President Xi Jinping during his time working “in the provinces”.