Calls
for Beijing to behave in accordance with law after Lam Wing-kee reveals he was
abducted by Chinese special forces
By Tom Phillips
 |
Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee tells a press conference how
he was abducted by Chinese special forces.
Photograph: Jerome Favre/EPA
|
Pro-democracy leaders in Hong Kong have
accused Beijing of political thuggery after a local bookseller claimed he had
been kidnapped by Chinese “special forces” as part of a coordinated bid to
silence criticism of China’s Communist leadership.
Lam Wing-kee, one of five Hong Kong
publishers to mysteriously disappear last year, made the explosive claims on
Thursday night at a hastily arranged press conference in the former British
colony.
Lam, the 61-year-old manager of the Causeway
Bay bookstore, claimed he had spent months in solitary confinement in a cramped
cell after being snatched by a group of men as he entered mainland China in
October 2015.
“They blindfolded me and put a cap on my head
and basically bundled me up,” Lam told reporters.
Lam claimed Chinese agents had forced him to
confess to crimes he had not committed during his detention. He said he had
decided to speak out after thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of
Hong Kong to protest the booksellers’ disappearances.
“Hongkongers will not bow down before brute
force,” Lam said.
Lam’s unexpected decision to go public
reignited simmering anger over what increasingly looks like a Communist
party-led crackdown on the publishers who specialised in salacious tomes about
the private lives of top Chinese leaders.
Four other booksellers, including British
citizen Lee Po and Swedish citizen Gui Minhai, also went missing during the
campaign which began last October. Gui, who disappeared from a holiday home in
Thailand, remains in custody in mainland China while the other three, while
nominally free, are thought to be living under duress from Chinese authorities.
Amnesty International urged China to “end its
lies” over the bookseller scandal in the wake of Lam’s disclosures.
“They blindfolded me and put a cap on my head
and basically bundled me up,” Lam told reporters.
Lam claimed Chinese agents had forced him to
confess to crimes he had not committed during his detention. He said he had
decided to speak out after thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of
Hong Kong to protest the booksellers’ disappearances.
“Hongkongers will not bow down before brute
force,” Lam said.
Lam’s unexpected decision to go public
reignited simmering anger over what increasingly looks like a Communist
party-led crackdown on the publishers who specialised in salacious tomes about
the private lives of top Chinese leaders.
Four other booksellers, including British
citizen Lee Po and Swedish citizen Gui Minhai, also went missing during the
campaign which began last October. Gui, who disappeared from a holiday home in
Thailand, remains in custody in mainland China while the other three, while
nominally free, are thought to be living under duress from Chinese authorities.
Amnesty International urged China to “end its
lies” over the bookseller scandal in the wake of Lam’s disclosures.
Four other booksellers, including British
citizen Lee Po and Swedish citizen Gui Minhai, also went missing during the
campaign which began last October. Gui, who disappeared from a holiday home in
Thailand, remains in custody in mainland China while the other three, while
nominally free, are thought to be living under duress from Chinese authorities.
Amnesty International urged China to “end its
lies” over the bookseller scandal in the wake of Lam’s disclosures.
Mabel Au, the group’s Hong Kong director,
said his statement showed Chinese authorities had mounted a “concerted
operation” to silence the booksellers. “The Chinese authorities must come clean
and admit the truth,” she added.
Speaking on Friday, as demonstrators began
taking to the streets of the former colony, prominent pro-democracy leaders
urged Hong Kong citizens to protest.
Claudia Mo, an outspoken Civic party
lawmaker, told the Guardian that Lam’s “bombshell” revelations left Hong Kong’s
much treasured autonomy from the authoritarian mainland hanging by a thread.
“It’s now obvious to everyone that the
so-called ‘one country, two systems’ promise is completely in tatters,” she
said. “We need to stand firm and stand tall and really fight back.”
“This is not just an ordinary detention,” she
said of Lam’s rendition. “This is literally a kidnapping by Beijing
authorities.”
“They behave like some mob… They are just
political thugs. They behave like gangsters... and it is very worrying.
Whatever happened to the basic decency and dignity that we expect from
government?”
Emily Lau, the chairwoman of Hong Kong’s
Democratic party, told the Guardian China’s alleged abduction of the bookseller
was “very barbaric and totally unacceptable”.
She said the revelations showed China to be a
place of “complete lawlessness”.
“If the Chinese government wants to join the
international community as a respected member it must behave in such a way.
Otherwise it will just bring disdain and scorn upon itself,” Lau added.
“[Beijing] must come out and condemn such
behaviour and to assure the world that it will not happen again… They must
respect the rule of law and respect the rights of their own people.”
Jason Ng, a Hong Kong-based writer, said
Lam’s statement “confirms everything we already suspect and know about the
Chinese Communist party. The [party’s] lies have blown up in their faces.”
Ng, the author of a book about the 2014
umbrella movement demonstrations, said he believed Lam’s revelations would
galvanise the city’s protest movement. “The opposition has been split and
society polarised. This incident unites us.” They might also influence on
September’s elections, boosting the chances of pro-democracy candidates and
damaging those of pro-Beijing ones.
China has yet to respond to Lam Wing-kee’s
allegations which could not be independently verified. However, Beijing has
previously claimed that the booksellers voluntarily travelled to mainland China
to assist with a Chinese police investigation.
Activists, observers and many foreign
diplomats scoff at that suggestion. Many view the disappearances as part of
growing campaign by President Xi Jinping’s administration to silence dissent
beyond China’s own borders.
On Friday a spokesperson for the UK Foreign
Office said it remained “deeply concerned” about the situation of Lee Po whose
“involuntary removal to the mainland was a serious breach” of Hong Kong’s
autonomy.
The Swedish embassy in Beijing said it was
aware of Lam’s claims that he had been abducted.
“The information surrounding the
disappearances of Gui Minhai’s colleagues, including recent developments, is
alarming and we emphasize this in our contacts with Chinese authorities,” a
spokesperson said. “The Embassy has repeatedly requested a new meeting with Gui
Minhai, but no such request has been granted since [24 February].”
“Our efforts to reach clarity in what has
happened to, and is happening to, Swedish citizen Gui Minhai continue
unabated,” the spokesperson added.
Claudia Mo said she feared for Lam’s safety
following his “heroic” decision to speak out in defiance of Beijing. “I’m very
worried they would try to get rid of him in some way,” she said.
Emily Lau said the saga had left citizens of
the former colony on edge.
“It happened to Mr Lee and to Mr Lam.
Tomorrow it can happen to Mrs Chan and to Mr Wong and the list goes on,” she
said. “People are very, very frightened. You must tell the world that.”