Opinion | Don’t wail ‘abduction’ next time someone appears to leave Hong Kong against their will
Terminology is important – let’s reserve such words for serious cases, not just trot them out casually
I think we are going to have to call all the media together and agree which words to use when incidents arise of people moving from Hong Kong to the mainland in circumstances that suggest it may not have been entirely their own idea in the first instance.
You see, when I read the word “abduction” it conjures up several exotic possibilities, for example alien abduction, as portrayed in some films and TV series, whereby creatures from another planet take the victim into custody on a space ship for examination; or kidnap of a potential bride as apparently practised at various times in the past when the law and order situation was less satisfactory and courting techniques less sophisticated.
Even when the circumstances are more mundane, the implication I get from the word is of a forceful laying on of hands so that a person is removed entirely against his own will from one place where he was peacefully going about his own business and taken to another place. The victim may be unconscious, or rendered helpless in some way through handcuffs or other bindings. He may well be gagged so as to prevent him calling out for help.
According to all accounts, Mr Xiao was sitting peacefully in his suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in the company of a number of female bodyguards when he was visited by a group of men. From their appearance, manner and bearing witnesses deduced that the group was from the mainland. Members apparently pushed their way past the bodyguards and had a spirited discussion with Xiao.
Subsequently, Xiao got into a private car, accompanied by two of his bodyguards, and was driven to one of the border crossing points where he passed peacefully through immigration and returned to the mainland.
What kidnapper allows the target to bring his own bodyguards with him?