Two years after Hong Kong bookseller saga, city and mainland China yet to finalise notifications on detained citizens

Security Bureau claims two sides now ‘exchanging opinions’ on details with view to concluding text ‘as soon as possible’

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A poster of the missing booksellers on the stairs leading to Causeway Bay Books last year in Hong Kong. Photo: EPA

Published: 3:00pm, 4 Nov 2017Updated: 10:58pm, 4 Nov 2017

Hong Kong and mainland officials have still not taken the final steps to improve their notification mechanism on detained citizens even after high-level meetings more than a year ago at the height of the missing bookseller saga.

In a reply to the Post, the city’s Security Bureau said the two sides were still drafting the text for the enhanced mechanism, under which the mainland must tell the city if Hongkongers are being subjected to compulsory criminal measures – such as detentions or arrests – or have died unnaturally.

Causeway Bay Books bookseller Lam Wing-kee after his release last year. Photo: Felix Wong

“Hong Kong and the mainland, after two rounds of discussions, have fully exchanged views on refining the notification mechanism, including the notification time frame, content, scope and channel,” the bureau said.

It added that the two sides were “now focusing on drafting the text” for the mechanism and “exchanging views on the details of the arrangement” with an eye to finalising the text “as soon as possible”.

Protesters last year outside the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong try to affix photos of the missing booksellers. Photo: AP