Analysis | Special task force identified by HK bookseller usually targets only top officials, analysts say
The central investigators that Lam Wing-kee claims held him incommunicado over the border are rarely mentioned in official media, but have been linked to many of the largest probes in recent years
Beijing’s alleged use of a special task force to pursue five Hong Kong booksellers who published works critical of top officials points to the leadership’s sensitivity to possibly damaging gossip, analysts said.
Such teams were usually established only in cases involving very senior politicians, and requires the approval of top Communist Party leaders, they said. The task force’s involvement suggested the investigations were ultimately about factional politics and a perceived challenge to the top leadership’s authority.
Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee told reporters on Thursday he believed the people who detained him at the Chinese mainland border reported directly to party headquarters.
“They do not represent the state security agency, not the police, not the military, but rather a central special investigation task force,” Lam said.
His account, if true, would mean that the investigators were authorised with exceptional power – and could be exempted from certain legal requirements, said Beijing-based political commentator Zhang Lifan.