Hong Kong bookseller Lee Bo was last seen in Chai Wan in December. Photo: AFP
Missing publisher Gui Minhai appeared on state television on Sunday night. Image: AFP
A China expert from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) said on Tuesday he is shocked how “inept” the mainland authorities have been over the handling of the disappearance of five men linked to a Hong Kong publishing company
Police in Guangdong finally confirmed on Monday night that Lee Bo, who was last seen in Chai Wan at the end of December, is now on the mainland. The previous night another of the missing men, Swedish citizen Gui Minhai, was paraded on state television, and is said to have been detained at an undisclosed location on the mainland.
David Zweig from HKUST’s Center on China's Transnational Relations told RTHK’s Backchat programme that unless the publishers were about to release something sensational that was really going to harm President Xi Jinping’s drive against corruption on the mainland, there is no plausible explanation for the authorities’ actions, given the damage they have caused.
Zweig pointed out that the scandal erupted just two weeks before elections in Taiwan, questioning whether it had led to a surge in votes for Beijing-sceptic Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party, who enjoyed a landslide victory in Saturday’s polls.
Meanwhile, a specialist in China politics at Baptist University, Jean-Pierre Cabestan, said Guangdong’s Public Security Department had further internationalised the scandal by using its Interpol liaison office to pass information about missing Lee Bo to police in Hong Kong.
“Of course, both Hong Kong and mainland China are part of Interpol. But still, it gives the impression that the issue really has become an international issue and mainland China does not have any other ways but to go through Interpol to contact and inform the Hong Kong government,” Cabestan said.
Police in Hong Kong say a letter from the Interpol office confirmed Lee is being held on the mainland and it also contained a letter from him addressed to various Hong Kong government departments. Police said in response, they had asked to be able to visit Lee.
As well as Lee and Gui, who was last seen while on a holiday in Thailand, three other men linked to the same publishing firm have disappeared in recent months. They vanished while on the mainland. Their company, Mighty Current, is known for publishing books that are critical of Communist Party leaders.
http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1236757-20160119.htm
