New developments including letter allegedly from bookstore owner spark further speculation over his disappearance
PHILA SIU AND LAI YING-KIT
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 05 January, 2016, 2:56pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 05 January, 2016, 4:14pm
A letter (left) said to be from Lee Bo is raising more questions than it answers. Meanwhile, Causeway Bay Books remains closed. Pictures: Reuters, Tyrone Siu
New developments in the mysterious disappearance of bookseller Lee Bo, including his wife’s withdrawal of her request for police help as well as the appearance of a suspicious letter said to be written by him, have brought more questions than answers.
On Tuesday, lawmakers including the Democratic Party’s James To Kun-sun and the New People’s Party’s Michael Tien Puk-sun voiced their doubts over whether Lee really went to the mainland his “own way”, as he wrote in the letter.
“He has resisted going to the mainland the whole time. Why would he suddenly go to the mainland in his own way?” To said on a radio programme. “And why didn’t he just use his home return permit to do so?”
Lee’s wife earlier said that she found her husband’s permit at home. The Hong Kong police have found no record of Lee leaving the city.
The saga of the missing booksellers took a dramatic twist on Monday. Lee’s wife suddenly withdrew her request for police help, claiming she had been in touch with her husband after he vanished last Wednesday.
Watch: Chief Executive CY Leung ‘very concerned’ about missing booksellers
Deepening the mystery, the Central News Agency published what it said was a handwritten letter faxed by Lee to a bookstore colleague.
The letter stated that Lee “had to handle the issue concerned urgently and cannot let outsiders know”. He also said he “returned to mainland my own way and am working with the concerned parties in an investigation which may take a while”.
This is what Hongkongers about worry most. That is Hongkongers being arrested by mainland agents in Hong Kong and taken across the border.
LEE CHEUK-YAN, SECRETARY OF THE ALLIANCE IN SUPPORT OF PATRIOTIC DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENTS OF CHINA
The state-run Global Times issued an editorial on Tuesday, giving a hint on Beijing’s stance on the saga. The piece stated that Lee’s letter has busted rumours that the bookseller was kidnapped by mainland enforcement agencies.
“Although Causeway Bay Books was opened in Hong Kong, the harm it has done against the country has already entered the mainland. Lee Bo knows it well. He was probably willing to cooperate with the investigation in a “low profile” way. It is not a good thing for Lee himself and his bookstore’s business that the Hong Kong media has gone all over it,” the editorial said.
NPP’s Tien, who is also a Hong Kong delegate to the National People’s Congress, said it is likely Lee entered the mainland illegally by speed boat. He believed that someone might have arranged this for him because Lee is just an ordinary bookseller and should not have known how to do so.
Lee Cheuk-yan, secretary of the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, said the letter pointed to the likelihood of Lee being placed under investigation by mainland agents.
Watch: Missing bookseller prompts protests in Hong Kong
“It all the more showed what actually happened was that Lee was under investigation because his bookstore made insults about the mainland,” Lee said on a radio programme.
“This is what Hongkongers worry about most. That is, Hongkongers being arrested by mainland agents in Hong Kong and taken across the border,” he said.
But New People’s Party chairwoman and former security secretary Regina Ip Lau Shuk-yee said the letter showed that Lee was not detained by mainland authorities because he would not be allowed to fax or telephone if he is being detained.
Another pro-Beijing lawmaker, Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, said that from past experiences, mainland law enforcement agencies would not take action against Hong Kong suspects in the city. She took the example of “Big Spender” Cheung Chi-keung’s case, saying mainland law enforcement agencies had to lure the gangster back to the mainland before arresting him.
Ip also said there was no need to write to mainland authorities such as the National People’s Congress to seek assistance. She said the Security Bureau and police could deal with the case more swiftly than corresponding back and forth with the NPC.
Hong Kong has now become a very scary place. People can be vanished because they have said something the authorities don’t like.
A CALLER WHO GAVE HER NAME AS MISS CHUNG
Callers on Tuesday said the disappearances gave them the chills.
A Miss Chung said she feared the cases were related to a possible mainland clampdown on dissenting voices in Hong Kong.
“Hong Kong has now become a very scary place. People can be vanished because they have said something the authorities don’t like,” she said.
A caller who gave his name as Mr Lo said: “My feeling is that the whole issue cannot be dealt with on the legal level. It is more like what happens in triad gangs.”
Another caller Miss Chiu said the latest twists – including the fax and the Global Times editorial – seemed to be efforts by the mainland to calm the unease felt by Hongkongers over the disappearances.
Lee’s wife earlier said her husband called her from Shenzhen the night he disappeared. She found it strange that he talked to her in Putonghua instead of Cantonese and said the caller ID showed a Shenzhen number. She suspected that Shenzhen officers had taken her husband from Hong Kong, sparking a storm of street protests.
The other booksellers who have also gone missing are Gui Minhai, shareholder of Mighty Current, the publishing house that owns the bookstore; publishing house general manager Lui Bo and business manager Cheung Jiping; as well as bookstore manager Lam Wing-kei.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1898106/dubious-lawmakers-ask-why-would-missing-hong-kong
