Bookseller Lam Wing-kee could face even tougher legal action, Beijing warns
Hong Kong delegation told that cross-border communication system will be reviewed as video reveals bookseller’s life in detention
Chinese public security chiefs warned that bookseller Lam Wing-kee could face tougher legal action for skipping bail and refusing to return to the mainland, as a high-level Hong Kong delegation to Beijing secured a preliminary agreement yesterday on the need to overhaul the existing cross-border communication system.
The city’s justice and security ministers met their mainland counterparts to discuss improving their notification mechanism after it failed to keep Hong Kong informed when Lam and four of his publishing associates disappeared last year and were detained separately across the border for months.
Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun, his state councillor rank reflecting the importance Beijing has placed on the issue, stressed at the meeting that the notification system had been working well since it was established in 2001. But because the central government took very seriously Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s request for a review, Guo said, Beijing was willing to look into improvements.
“Ever since the handover, the central government has firmly put in place the principles of ‘one country, two systems’, Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong, and high autonomy for the city,” Guo said. “Overall, we think [the mechanism] has been working well.
In a statement released before the meeting ended, the ministry said both sides had agreed on guiding principles as to how the system should be improved. They would review the length of time required for notifications, along with the scope, content and channels of such communication.