Hong Kong’s leader says he’s ‘highly concerned’ about missing booksellers

Hong Kong’s leader said Monday that he was “highly concerned” about the recent disappearances of people associated with a publishing company in the city that specializes in titles critical of mainland China’s leadership.

Speaking at a news conference in Beijing alongside his counterpart, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Mr Hammond said he had raised concerns about Mr Lee’s whereabouts.

Indeed, the South China Morning Post reported on Sunday that Lee’s wife thought Chinese agents had abducted him.

Lee Bo is one of five employees of a publishing house who have disappeared in Hong Kong since last October.

Mighty Current general manager Lui, business manager Cheung and bookstore manager Lam went missing after separately visiting Shenzhen between mid- and late October.

“We encourage the Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region) Government to honor its commitment to protecting the freedom of the press, and we hope the Chinese authorities will continue to make every effort to ensure that the environment in which the media and publishers operate in the Hong Kong SAR supports full and frank reporting”.

Such abductions are very rare in Hong Kong, which – unlike the authoritarian mainland – enjoys freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the rule of law. “Not only are mainland laws inapplicable in Hong Kong, no mainland officials, including law enforcement agencies, can take the law into their own hands in Hong Kong”, said Ho. It was not clear if that meant Lee had been located, and his wife could not be reached for comment. Is this all getting so much attention because it is Hong Kong?

The fifth is a Swedish national, with embassies in Beijing and Bangkok investigating his case. Taiwan’s Central News Agency also published a handwritten letter said to be faxed from Lee to a bookstore colleague.

“I think everyone knows she must be under pressure”, said Lee, who is not related to the missing bookseller.

And now, it appears that the crackdown is seeping into Hong Kong. “We need to give the mainland authorities some time”, he added.

An officer at the Public Security Bureau in Shenzhen, just over the border from Hong Kong in China’s Guangdong province, told Reuters he’d been instructed by his supervisors to say he wasn’t aware of the case.

Hong Kong media reported that Lee’s wife, Choi Ka-ping, asked police to drop the missing person’s report after learning of the letter, the authenticity of which could not be independently confirmed.

He also said: “I am very well”.

“The detentions of bloggers, democracy activists, and independent journalists are unfortunately nearly a daily occurrence in China, but thus far this sort of naked attack on freedom of expression has been unheard of in Hong Kong”, he said.

Operating by a “one country, two systems” principle, Hong Kong more or less functions as a separate entity from mainland China, complete with its own legal system, political system, police force and currency.

Rights lawyer and pan-democratic lawmaker Albert Ho said the booksellers’ disappearances are likely linked to a planned book on President Xi Jinping’s love life.

Britain is a guarantor of the Joint Declaration, which provided the basis for Hong Kong’s Basic Law. He added that if Lee is involved in any investigation, it should be settled by the Hong Kong judicial system.

“Although the… bookstore is based in Hong Kong, it maintains itself by causing trouble in the mainland”. But Chan said chief executive Leung should be taking the matter up at the highest level in Beijing. The books are popular among mainland tourists who visit Hong Kong.

Lee had said in November that he feared the four had been detained by mainland authorities.