EDITOR LIKELY ABDUCTED TO CHINA: U. K.

Britain says a missing Hong Kong bookseller was likely abducted to mainland China, calling it a “serious breach” of the treaty under which Beijing took control of the city.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in a report Thursday that Lee Bo was “involuntarily removed” to the mainland. Britain’s Foreign Office said it was the first time that Britain has accused China of a “serious breach” of the 1984 treaty.

Lee, a British citizen, is one of five men linked to Hong Kong publisher Mighty Current Media and its Cause- way Bay Bookshop who have gone missing in recent months only to turn up later in mainland China.

Lee is chief editor of Mighty Current, which specialized in books critical of China’s communist leadership that were banned in the mainland. “This constitutes a serious breach of the SinoBritish Joint Declaration on Hong Kong and undermines the principle of ‘one country, two systems’ which assures Hong Kong residents of the protection of the Hong Kong legal system,” the report said.