Shop co-owned by missing Hong Kong bookseller Lee Po expected to reopen
Causeway Bay Books set to throw open doors again on Monday morning, according to co-owner’s wife, while Lee’s whereabouts remain unknown
All eyes will be on the expected reopening of Causeway Bay Books on Monday morning despite the whereabouts of its co-owner, Lee Po, remaining unknown.
Lee’s wife, Sophie Choi Ka-ping, told RTHK on Saturday that the bookstore – which has been closed for more than a month – would reopen on Monday, but she did not say if or when Lee would return to Hong Kong.
On Sunday, the store’s gates were still shut and plastered with news clippings, pictures and messages of support. Choi could not be reached for comment.
READ MORE: Wife of ‘missing’ Hong Kong bookseller Lee Po reunited with husband in ‘secret’ meeting in mainland China
A “closed” sign remained scribbled with notes accumulated over the last five weeks including the words “never rest” and “not afraid”. There was no indication of when its doors would open on the shopfront or website.
Lee, a co-owner of publishing house Mighty Current which runs the Causeway Bay book store, was last seen on December 30 at Mighty Current’s Chai Wan warehouse at about 6pm.
Lee called his wife from a Shenzhen phone number and told her in Putonghua that he was assisting with an investigation. It later emerged there was no record of Lee leaving the city.
Lee’s disappearance came about two months after four of his business associates – Gui Minhai, Lui Por, Cheung Ji-ping and Lam Wing-kei – went missing separately in October: Gui while on holiday in Thailand in mid-October, and Cheung, Lui and Lam later that month in Shenzhen.
Many speculated that Lee, a British passport holder, could have been abducted by mainland law enforcement agents in Hong Kong and taken to the mainland against his will, prompting a wave of concern over a possible compromise in the ‘one country, two systems’ principle governing Hong Kong.
