‘Disappearing’ bookseller now talks openly about abduction in China
Lam Wing-kee is a name that should go down in history. That is how Hong Kong-based veteran journalist Frank Ching put it a year ago when describing Lam as a “brave bookseller who stood up to tyranny.”
Lam is in Vancouver this week talking about how he and four colleagues at a bookstore and publishing company in Hong Kong were abducted and detained for months by mainland Chinese authorities in late 2015 for selling books with juicy rumours about the private lives of leaders in Beijing.
The “disappearing” Causeway Bay booksellers, as they became known, rocked Hong Kong ’s sense of autonomy, and the shock reverberated to overseas communities.
The other four booksellers haven’t spoken publicly about what happened. Three of them were allowed to return to Hong Kong after a few months, but haven’t said much. The last bookseller, Gui Minhai, a Swedish national on holiday away from Hong Kong in Thailand when he was taken by Chinese agents, is still in detention.
Lam wasn’t allowed to return to Hong Kong until June 2016. He said he was then given a day or so to retrieve a hard disk at the bookstore containing the names and mailing addresses of its customers.
Instead, he held a defiant press conference, saying he had been arrested by mainland Chinese agents while crossing into the border city of Shenzhen on a regular visit to see his then-girlfriend.
They blindfolded, handcuffed and took him on a 13-hour train ride to Ningbo, south of Shanghai, where he was kept in a cell under 24-hour watch for five months. Lam said his confession on Chinese state television was fake and guards had him on suicide watch, keeping his toothbrush on a short, nylon string so he couldn’t swallow it.
Now, with attention on Hong Kong ahead of the 20th anniversary of the return of the former British colonial to Chinese rule, Lam is speaking out again.
In early May, he addressed a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C. Now, he is on a short tour of cities in North America, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.
On Thursday, Lam told Postmedia he believes there was a carefully prepared plan by Chinese authorities to take over the running of the bookstore, which was sold about a month after his detention and now sits empty.
“They told me that I could return to Hong Kong and work in ‘their’ bookstore under the condition that I write reports, open a personal file for each customer, and spy on them. I would have a dual role, running the bookstore, mailing books to customers, but also gathering information about them, too.”
Lam has pointedly put blame for the crackdown on the Causeway Bay bookstore on Chinese President Xi Jinping and recently told the U.S. Congress that more meetings “would be beneficial to people like me” to tell Xi “that the eyes of the world are on China, and on Hong Kong.”
He said Vancouver’s large population of former Hong Kong residents and others who make frequent visits should keep watch, too.
“We do feel this and, to us, to have your spiritual support is helpful, but also for you to speak out and protest.”
There has been talk of reopening a Causeway Bay Books in Taiwan, but Lam clarified he would only be an adviser and would not move from Hong Kong to run it.
“We would have to find the right people and location there, but the name ‘Causeway Bay Books’ has become an icon of resistance.”
The Vancouver Hong Kong Forum Society is hosting a session with Lam tonight.
“We all care about the Causeway Bay booksellers story and are inspired by (Lam’s) courage,” said society president Miu Chung Yan. “It’ll be a rare opportunity to meet face-to-face with him and hear his views on issues of freedom of publication and speech in Hong Kong.”
I would have a dual role, running the bookstore, mailing books to customers, but also gathering information about them, too.