Bookseller says Beijing detention deal won’t ease Hongkongers’ ‘worst fears’
Lam Wing-kee recalls 2015 experience when he disappeared from the city and turned up in mainland custody
Causeway Bay Books founder Lam Wing-kee said Hong Kong and Beijing’s new deal to set up a faster notification system on detentions would not ease city residents’ fears about their personal safety and freedoms.
Their disappearance raised concerns locally and internationally about Hong Kong’s reciprocal notification mechanism, under which mainland authorities were supposed to inform the city’s police when they detained a Hong Kong resident. It was unclear whether local police had ever been notified of Lam’s detention.
The bookseller returned to Hong Kong on bail in June last year after eight months in detention and spoke publicly about his experience upon his arrival.
But Lam described the new deal as “not too meaningful” as it did not touch on Hongkongers’ “worst fears” about their personal safety and freedoms.
“It’s good to require [mainland authorities] to provide more information ... and the notification might come 10 or 20 days earlier, but the resident will have already been arrested,” he said.
“When I was detained, I was forced to give up my right to inform my family and lawyer.”
Lam and other booksellers had claimed they returned to the mainland voluntarily, but their case fuelled fears that mainland agents had been operating in the city. Officials denied that suggestion.
Lam said the Article 23 legislation would threaten Hongkongers’ personal rights.
“Advocating Hong Kong’s independence will become a crime,” he added. “It will further restrict our personal liberties and freedom of expression.”
Watch: Hong Kong missing booksellers timeline
Lam said he had not been in contact with Gui or his former colleague’s family and friends, but he believed Gui would be staying in the mainland for “some time”.
Claiming now to be retired, Lam said he enjoyed reading, hiking and exercising.
Without elaborating, Lam said he was planning to start a bookstore in Taiwan.