A Hong Kong bookseller, who had disappeared into Chinese custody for half a year, yesterday said that he has fled to Taiwan after the financial hub announced plans to approve extraditions to China.
Lam Wing-kei (林榮基), the former manager of Hong Kong-based Causeway Bay Books (銅鑼灣圖書), was one of five publishers selling gossip-filled tomes on China’s leaders who vanished in late 2015, resurfacing in Chinese custody and making televised confessions.
He was allowed back to Hong Kong in June 2016 on condition that he pick up a hard drive listing the bookstore’s customers and return to China.
Photo: Sam Yeh / AFP
Instead, he skipped bail and went public with explosive testimony detailing how he was blindfolded by police after crossing the border into Shenzhen, China, and spent months being interrogated.
Following his ordeal, the 64-year-old had previously said that he wanted to move to Taiwan, which does not have an extradition agreement with China.
He yesterday said that his plans were sped up after Hong Kong’s government this year announced controversial plans to allow extraditions to China.
“Right now Hong Kong is not safe for me anymore,” he told reporters in Taipei, saying that he had flown to the capital the day before.
Lam said that he was “enjoying the air of freedom and reading some free books,” adding that he hopes to work for a friend and is in talks to open a bookstore in Taiwan.
Asked for comment, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said that the government has approved Lam to stay a month in Taiwan, adding that he would need to apply in accordance with the law if he plans to stay long term.
As Lam skipped bail, he is still technically wanted in China. Hong Kong currently has no extradition agreement with China.
The territory has a separate legal system through the “one country, two systems” deal struck between Britain and China.
Historically, the territory has balked at Chinese extradition requests because of the opacity of China’s criminal justice system and its liberal use of the death penalty.
However, earlier this year Hong Kong’s government announced plans to overhaul its extradition rules, allowing the transfer of fugitives to China on a “case-by-case basis” for the first time.
The legislation has been winding its way through the Hong Kong Legislative Council.
Lam said that he felt he could not take the risk of staying.
“You don’t know what kind of excuses or charges they will use to put you on the wanted list,” he said, adding that the extradition law “puts every Hong Konger in a very dangerous position.”
He said that he felt Taiwan was a safer bet, because it “really has rule of law.”
The planned extradition changes in Hong Kong have sparked large protests and mounting alarm within the territory’s business and legal communities, which fear that it would hammer the financial hub’s international appeal and tangle people up in China’s opaque courts.
A protest is planned for tomorrow in Hong Kong.
Additional reporting by staff writer
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College