Bookseller Lam Wing-kee leaves Hong Kong for Taiwan, fearing proposed extradition law will mean he is sent to mainland China
- Opposition lawmaker Claudia Mo accompanied Lam to airport and said he decided a month ago to open a bookshop in Taiwan
- The bookseller is ‘extremely worried’ and convinced he is at top of extradition list, she says
Bookseller Lam Wing-kee, who claimed he was kidnapped by Chinese agents in 2015 for selling books banned across the border, left Hong Kong on Thursday for a new life in Taiwan, expressing deep fears about the government’s controversial extradition proposals.
The former manager of Causeway Bay Books departed for the self-ruled island just days before a rally by the pro-democracy camp on Sunday against the government’s bill to allow the transfer of fugitives to any jurisdiction with which the city does not have an extradition agreement including mainland China, Taiwan and Macau.
Opposition lawmaker Claudia Mo Man-ching, who accompanied Lam to the airport, said on Friday he decided a month ago to open a bookshop in Taiwan.
“He is extremely worried and convinced he is at the top of the list of those who could be extradited,” Mo said. Lam, who was still wanted across the border, had “absolutely no faith in the mainland’s legal system”, she added.
A source close to Lam, 63, said his move had received the blessing of Taiwanese authorities.