By Christine Khamis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
HONG KONG, China –
A Hong Kong bookseller who recently disappeared may have kidnapped by Chinese authorities and brought to mainland China.
Lee Bo, who published and sold books critical of China’s government, was reported missing by his wife last week. Mr. Lee’s wife then withdrew the missing person’s report when she received a letter in his handwriting stating that he had traveled to mainland China to assist with a police investigation. Mr. Lee’s wife says that in addition to the letter, he has also contacted her by telephone. Human rights activists believe that Mr. Lee was under duress when he contacted his wife.
However, there is no official record of Mr. Lee traveling to the mainland. Mr. Lee also failed to take his travel permits with him, which are necessary for travel between Hong Kong and the mainland.
Mr. Lee is associated with Mighty Current Media, a publishing house partly owned by his wife. Mighty Current’s books were sold at the Causeway Bay Bookstore, in which Mr. Lee is a shareholder. Mighty Current is known for publishing gossip-style books about Chinese leaders. The publisher has released books about topics that many other publishers purposely don’t cover, such as Chinese president Xi Jinping’s love affairs.
Albert Ho, a legislator in Hong Kong, states that the bookstore was planning on releasing a book on President Xi Jinping’s personal life and was told not to do so. Mr. Ho believes that Mr. Lee was kidnapped and taken to mainland China.
Four of Mr. Lee’s colleagues have also disappeared recently, including another Mighty Current co-owner named Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen who went missing in Thailand in October. The other three were last seen in mainland China, according to the BBC.
Mr. Lee has dual citizenship of China and Britain due to Hong Kong’s status as a former British colony. However, the Chinese government does not acknowledge dual citizenship and any efforts on Britain’s part to retrieve Mr. Lee may not be successful.
Hong Kong is a former British colony that was returned to China in 1997 through an agreement between Britain and China. When China gained sovereignty over Hong Kong, it was under a “One Country, Two Systems” model that gave Hong Kong a separate legal system and freedoms of speech and press. As part of the “One Country, Two Systems” model, Britain and China agreed that Hong Kong would have autonomy for 50 years.
Mr. Lee has dual citizenship of China and Britain due to Hong Kong’s status as a former British colony. However, the Chinese government does not acknowledge dual citizenship and any efforts on Britain’s part to retrieve Mr. Lee may not be successful.
Many in Hong Kong fear that the disappearance of Mr. Lee and the other booksellers signifies China’s growing control over Hong Kong. Hong Kong citizens are beginning to feel apprehensive about what the mainland’s growing power will mean for their own civil liberties and legal rights.
For more information, please see:
New York Times – Many in Hong Kong Fear Beijing’s Reach After Editor’s Disappearance – 7 January 2016
Hong Kong Free Press – The Missing Booksellers: If We Let This Go, Will Hong Kong Still be Hong Kong? – 7 January 2016
International Business Times – Who is British Dissident Bookseller Lee Bo, Feared Kidnapped by Chinese Authorities? – 7 January 2016
BBC – Hong Kong Bookseller Mystery Deepens After Letter Appears – 5 January 2016
