Guangdong governor says he believes case of Hong Kong bookseller Lee Po will have ‘practical and fair judgment’
Meanwhile, Britain’s Sunday Times publishes report on leaked document showing Beijing’s plan to ‘exterminate’ banned books and magazines at their source, targeting HK publishers
A top official in Guangdong has spoken of the mysterious disappearance of Hong Kong bookseller Lee Po, formerly reported as Lee Bo, saying that he believes there will be “a practical and fair judgement” for the matters related to his case.
Speaking after the opening ceremony of the Guangdong People’s Congress on Monday, provincial governor Zhu Xiaodan first said he did not have details on Lee’s disappearance.
“You might have to ask relevant departments in charge ... These individual issues will have to be eventually evaluated by their practical facts,” Zhu said.
READ MORE: Wife of ‘missing’ Hong Kong bookseller Lee Po reunited with husband in ‘secret’ meeting in mainland China
But he added: “I believe there will be a practical and fair judgment ... I don’t think any individual case will have an impact on the overall relationship of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, in particular, Guangdong and Hong Kong. It definitely won’t.”
Li Qingxiong, deputy director of the Guangdong Public Security Department, said he had no explanation to offer when asked how Lee could have gone to the mainland without his home return permit.
Lee, a co-owner of Causeway Bay Books, a store specialising in political books banned on the mainland, disappeared in Hong Kong at the end of last month. There was no official record of him leaving the city, triggering speculation that he had been abducted by mainland law enforcement officers.
I don’t think any individual case would have an impact on the overall relationship of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, in particular, Guangdong and Hong Kong.
But on early Sunday morning, it was reported that Lee had met his wife at a secret location on the mainland. He reiterated that he was “assisting in an investigation” there, but did not provide further details.