In the past year, the Chinese authorities have cracked down on Hong Kong’s once-raucous publishing industry. At least five prominent booksellers have disappeared — one from a busy Hong Kong street, another from a border area and one at a
In the past year, the Chinese authorities have cracked down on Hong Kong’s once-raucous publishing industry. At least five prominent booksellers have disappeared — one from a busy Hong Kong street, another from a border area and one at a seaside apartment in Thailand.
The detention of these men — China insists they all entered China “voluntarily” to help authorities investigate subversive authors — is a violation of the “one country, two systems” framework worked out with Britain when the former colonial power returned the territory to China in 1997. Under that treaty, Hong Kong was supposed to remain relatively free from Beijing’s authoritarian control. Instead of guaranteed autonomy, the disappearance of the booksellers highlights Hong Kong’s vulnerability.
Lam Wing-kee, the former manager of Causeway Bay Books, resurfaced in Hong Kong last week after a half-year absence. On a visit to the mainland in October, he was seized at a border crossing. During the time Lam was gone, his store closed. It had been popular with locals and foreigners because it was a place where you could find salacious biographies and exposes of the Chinese elite that weren’t available in China.
Lam said Chinese authorities allowed him to return to Hong Kong to retrieve a hard-drive that contained information about dissidents and its customers. Instead of returning to the mainland with the information, Lam called a news conference Thursday and revealed details about his forced internment in China. He told of 24-hour surveillance and signing away his right to a lawyer, forbidden to have contact with his family.
Now safely back in Hong Kong, Lam is adamant he will never return to the mainland of his own free will. Meanwhile, his harrowing account confirms the worst suspicions most Hong Kong citizens have about Beijing and its intentions. His bravery is commendable, but it is up to the international community to insist that China honor its international agreements and respect the rights of the citizens of Hong Kong.
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
