‘Dear Ping...’ Another letter from missing Hong Kong bookseller Lee Bo surfaces

Reproduced below is a third message allegedly sent by Causeway Bay Books co-owner Lee Bo to wife Choi Ka-ping after his disappearance on December 30. In the letter which surfaced on Sunday night, after Gui Minhai’s disclosure on state television that he had turned himself in over a death related to drink-driving, Lee refers to Gui’s “complicated history” and calls him “morally unacceptable”.

In the first letter, dated January 3, Lee said he “returned to the mainland my own way and am working with concerned parties in an investigation which may take a while”. The second letter, as well as a video recording, came on January 9 on the eve of a planned protest march in Hong Kong against “political abduction”. In the letter, Lee asked outsiders not to organise protests and said his return to the mainland had nothing to do with others. “I do not understand why some people want to make a fuss over it.”

Ping,

Since I voluntarily went to the mainland to assist with investigations, progress has been good. Things are going well. I have made friends with them.

Only recently, I came to know that Ah Hai [Gui Minhai] has a complicated history. He caused someone’s death while drink-driving in the mainland, and then fled to foreign countries. He also has many facades that I do not know. He has been involved in other crimes. He is a morally unacceptable person. This time he has caused me trouble.