Missing Hong Kong bookseller Lee Bo probably under detention, says executive councillor
Lam Woon-kwong says relations with the mainland ‘will be affected as long as the truth of the matter is not clarified’
The missing bookseller Lee Bo and his associates are most likely under detention, Executive Councillor Lam Woon-kwong told a local TV channel yesterday – the clearest statement from any official on the incident so far.
But as to why they had been detained and by whom, Lam said he was not sure.
He clarified later that he was just making an observation, and that it was not based on his having access to any privileged information.
Lee Bo, who runs Causeway Bay Books, which sells politically sensitive books banned on the mainland, was last seen in Hong Kong on December 30.
His disappearance came after his four other colleagues – Gui Minhai, Lui Por, Cheung Ji-ping and Lam Wing-kei – vanished separately in Thailand and the mainland in October.
“If there are indeed organisations responsible [for their disappearance], they should understand that relations between the Special Administrative Region and the mainland will be affected as long as the truth of the matter is not clarified.”
