China Post Online - China NewsYesterday, 00:00
An employee arranges books about mainland China politics in a books store in Causeway Bay district in Hong Kong on Tuesday, Jan. 5. (AFP)
HONG KONG -- The mystery surrounding five missing Hong Kong booksellers known for titles banned in mainland China deepened after one purportedly wrote a letter saying he was fine and helping with an investigation on the mainland, prompting his wife to drop a missing person's report.
Hong Kong police said late Monday that Lee Bo's wife canceled the report, but that they would continue investigating the other cases. They didn't say whether Lee had been located.
Lee is among five people associated with publisher Mighty Current, which specializes in books critical of the mainland's Chinese Communist Party leaders, who have vanished in recent months. One of the five is British, with Hong Kong media reporting that it is Lee.
'One country, two systems' at Risk
Their disappearances have prompted fears that Beijing is eroding the "one country, two systems" principle that's been in place since the UK ceded control of Hong Kong to mainland China in 1997, granting the city civil liberties nonexistent on the mainland, including freedom of the press.
When Lee vanished last Wednesday, he reportedly did not have his travel permit for mainland China with him, triggering speculation that mainland Chinese security agents entered Hong Kong to abduct and spirit him there.
Four other people linked to the publishing company went missing in October, but they were last seen either in mainland China or Thailand.
An image of Lee's handwritten letter was first published by Taiwan's government-affiliated Central News Agency late Monday. Hong Kong media have also published the image, crediting the news agency.
The letter, faxed to an employee at the publishing company's Causeway Bay Bookstore in Hong Kong, said: "Due to some urgent matters that I need to handle and that aren't to be revealed to the public, I have made my own way back to the mainland in order to cooperate with the investigation by relevant parties."
"It might take a bit of time," it said. "My current situation is very well. All is normal."
The letter gave no details about what the investigation was related to.
The UK's Foreign Office responded to inquiries about media reports that Lee is British by saying in an email Tuesday that one of the people reported missing is a British citizen, without naming the individual. It said it was "deeply concerned" about the case and has "urgently requested" help from authorities in Hong Kong and mainland China to find out the person's location and condition.
Hong Kong media reported that Lee's wife, Choi Ka-ping, asked police to drop the missing person's report after learning of the letter, the authenticity of which could not be independently confirmed. Choi's phone number was written on the fax, but calls to her by The Associated Press went unanswered.
Choi told Hong Kong's Apple Daily newspaper that she found his travel permit for mainland China at home after he went missing.
Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers and human rights activists were skeptical the letter proved Lee was safe.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/china/local-news/hong-kong/2016/01/06/455361/Missing-HK.htm
