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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Hong Kong unsettled by case of 5 missing booksellers

Kelvin Chan Associated Press

HONG KONG – Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers said Sunday that they will press the government for answers after a fifth employee of a publishing company specializing in books critical of mainland China’s leadership went missing.

Lawmaker Albert Ho said the city was “shocked and appalled” by the disappearance of Lee Bo. Like the four others who have disappeared in recent months, Lee is associated with publisher Mighty Current.

While there’s been no official word on what happened to the five missing people, Ho told reporters that it appears their disappearances are linked to the publishing company’s books.

“From the available information surrounding the disappearance of Mr. Lee Bo and his partners earlier, we have strong reason to believe that Mr. Lee Bo was probably kidnapped and then smuggled back to the mainland for political investigation,” Ho said.

Ho said one possible explanation was that the publishing company was being pressured to scrap plans for an upcoming book rumored to be about an old “girlfriend or mistress” of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

It’s not uncommon in mainland China for company executives and dissidents to be detained for lengthy periods by the authorities or vanish without anyone claiming responsibility, but the disappearances are unprecedented in Hong Kong and have shocked the city’s publishing industry.

A few dozen protesters marched to Beijing’s Liaison Office on Sunday to demand information about Lee, Mighty Current’s chief editor. Lee, 65, is also one of the company’s major shareholders, the South China Morning Post reported.

Mighty Current and its Causeway Bay Bookstore are known for gossipy titles about Chinese political scandals and other sensitive issues. Books by Mighty Current are banned on the mainland but are available in Hong Kong.

Lee went missing Wednesday evening. His wife told the Cable TV news channel in a report broadcast Saturday that she received a phone call from him the night he disappeared. She said he told her then that he was “assisting an investigation.”