Bookseller’s disappearance a ‘serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong’
DANNY LEE AND STUART LAU
PUBLISHED : Friday, 12 February, 2016, 12:56pm
UPDATED : Friday, 12 February, 2016, 3:42pm
Lee Po is a major shareholder in Causeway Bay Books. Photo: SCMP
Britain has concluded missing Hong Kong bookseller Lee Po was “involuntarily removed” from the city, in “serious breach” of the Sino-British Joined Declaration signed three decades ago.
The UK’s latest six-monthly report on its former colony, which covered topics from the bookseller disappearances to the controversial Copyright Bill, said Lee’s removal harmed the principle of Hong Kong’s governing framework.
The British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond wrote in the report’s foreword: “Our current information indicates that Mr Lee was involuntarily removed to the mainland without any due process under Hong Kong SAR law.”
The report underscored London’s concern that Lee, who later resurfaced in mainland China, was kidnapped, but the identity of the guilty parties remained unknown, it said.
Lee, a co-owner of publishing house Mighty Current which runs Causeway Bay Books, disappeared in unexplained circumstances on December 30 last year. His removal came months after four of his business associates – Gui Minhai, Lui Por, Cheung Ji-ping and Lam Wing-kei – went missing separately in October. Gui, who had been on holiday in Thailand, later reappeared, like Lee, in mainland China. He appeared on state TV making a confession for a historical crime.
Hammond added: “This constitutes a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong and undermines the principle of “One Country, Two Systems” which assures Hong Kong residents of the protection of the Hong Kong legal system.”
The UK government stated that while one country, two systems had “continued to function well” in many areas, there were “specific grounds” for concern.
“These revolve principally around the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Joint Declaration, including academic freedom and the freedom of the press,” said Hammond.
The report concluded that Hong Kong and China could do more to maintain confidence in Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy.
“We urge the authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing to take the necessary steps to maintain confidence in the system and the sanctity of the rights, freedoms and values it upholds,” Hammond added.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1912339/lee-po-involuntarily-removed-hong-kong-mainland-china-says
