Don’t engage in speculation over missing Hong Kong booksellers, urges newspaper commentary
Shan Renping’s piece in says store at centre of controversy ‘lives on stirring up trouble’
It doesn’t do any good to engage in political speculation over the disappearance of five booksellers, said a commentary published by the state-run conservative newspaper Global Times today.
This would include wondering if the five people were taken away by mainland law enforcement personnel while in Hong Kong.
The author, Shan Renping, said the central government upheld the “one country, two systems” principle and speculation that it would change its stance was groundless.
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The commentary comes as Hongkongers expressed fears that mainland agents may have overstepped their bounds in apprehending the bookstore owner and his associates secretly in Hong Kong and then spiriting him across the border.
Bookstore boss Lee Bo, 65, was last seen on Wednesday in Chai Wan. He vanished weeks after his four associates went missing under similar circumstances.
The bookstore in Causeway Bay sells books about gossip on mainland politics, power struggles and scandals involving officials.
In the commentary, Shan also said the store “lives on stirring up trouble in the mainland” by selling books talking about sensitive mainland topics.
“It makes use of the large number of mainland visitors seen since the handover, positions itself as a supply of ‘forbidden books’ to the mainland,” the author said.
“There is no denying that in some way it steps in mainland affairs and undermines the considerable interest that is the mainland’s stability and harmony,” the author said.
