MCLC: Another HK bookstore worker 'disappears' (2)

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Another HK bookstore worker ‘disappears’ (2)
The bookseller kidnapping saga is getting bigger and bigger: Today, since the last of the five abducted booksellers was taken directly from Hong Kong under the nose of the HK police and government, but without telling them, and since this is obviously a direct violation of the One-Country-Two-Systems deal, there have been protests in HK, and now, unexpectedly, HK chief executive CY Leung has himself come out and pointed out that Chinese police cannot operate in HK (= abduct HK people from HK). Amazing.
(In comparison, no such protest has been made by the Thai military junta, but then they are a coup junta which suspended all laws, and they have been shipping even UN-certified refugees back to China for quite a while. The HK authorities, for their part, seems not as keen on protesting the abductions of the 4 other HK residents, -- presumably since they were taken in Thailand and when visiting inside China).
--Magnus Fiskesjö <nf42 at cornell.edu>
ps. Before this latest bombshell, yesterday, the Guardian ran yet another very, very good update: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/03/hong-kong-politicians-call-beijing-comment-lee-po-editor-abduction; about the only thing they missed was that the Global Times in Beijing yesterday ran a vicious propaganda piece [ http://opinion.huanqiu.com/shanrenping/2016-01/8307509.html ] attacking the HK protesters and attacking the bookstores, and basically writing up what the sentence of the five abducted people will be, once it is finally announced that yes, they were "arrested" by China, -- while brilliantly stopping short of admitting responsibility for the abductions but implying it as a good thing! Interestingly, one can note that back in November, as the four October abductions had already been accomplished, unknowing Peoples' Daily editors printed a touristy article [http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/html/2015-11/12/content_1632108.htm ] lauding the cute second-floor bookstores of HK, mentioning even this one in Causeway Bay that had in reality just been raided for most of its owners and staff! They forgot to tell the Peoples' Daily! --Reality beats fiction, again. ).
Source: BBC News (1/4/16)
Hong Kong bookseller kidnap claims concern CY Leung
Chinese police have no right to operate in Hong Kong, its leader CY Leung has said, amid fears a local bookseller has been detained by mainland authorities.
Lee Bo is the fifth man linked to a shop selling works critical of China's government to go missing since October.
Local legislator Albert Ho claims Mr Lee, also known as Paul Lee, was kidnapped and taken to the mainland.
The disappearance of the men has raised concerns that China is undermining the territory's legal independence.
"The government and I are highly concerned about the case," said Mr Leung, who has in the past been criticised as too willing to bend to Beijing's will.
He stressed there was "no indication" that Chinese agents were involved, but added: "If mainland Chinese law enforcement personnel are carrying out duties in Hong Kong, it would be unacceptable."
The Foreign Office says it is investigating reports that Mr Lee may hold a British passport.
[ Juliana Liu: The case of the missing HK bookseller. http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-35219260 ]
Lee Bo disappeared last week.
His wife says he called her from Shenzhen, just over the border in mainland China, and told her he is helping with an investigation.
She says his home return permit, which Hong Kong citizens must show to enter China, is still at home - something Albert Ho points to as evidence he may have been abducted by security agents.
Mr Lee [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-35208879 ] was the colleague who raised the alarm when four of his colleagues at the tiny Causeway Bay Bookstore and related publishing house, Mighty Current, went missing in October [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34782266].
One of them, publishing house owner Gui Minhai, was last seen in Thailand. The other three were last seen in mainland China.
His disappearance last Wednesday has sparked an outcry in Hong Kong, where some suspect the men's disappearance is connected to a book the publisher may have been planning about an alleged former mistress of Chinese President Xi Jinping, when he was already married to folk singer Peng Liyuan.
There has been no official comment form the Chinese authorities. But in a recent opinion piece (in Chinese), the Global Times [http://w.huanqiu.com/r/MV8wXzgzMDc1MDlfMTI2NV8xNDUxODM5OTgw], a mouthpiece of the government, criticised accusations that the "one country, two systems" model was in jeopardy.
Hong Kong enjoys press freedoms not available in China, although some publishers had already begun to complain about growing pressure from Beijing.
The bookshop closed a day after Mr Lee's disappearance.
by denton.2 at osu.edu on January 5, 2016
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