{"id":191355,"date":"2016-02-12T17:47:05","date_gmt":"2016-02-13T01:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=191355"},"modified":"2021-09-14T20:36:59","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T03:36:59","slug":"uk-challenges-china-over-missing-hong-kong-bookseller-lee-bo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2016\/02\/uk-challenges-china-over-missing-hong-kong-bookseller-lee-bo\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Challenges China Over Missing HK Bookseller"},"content":{"rendered":"
In a bi-annual report to the British Parliament, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond expressed serious concerns over the disappearance of Lee Bo, a Hong Kong bookseller and UK passport holder who went missing late last year and is currently held in custody by officials in mainland China<\/a>. In the report, Hammond wrote that Lee’s apparent abduction by Chinese officials is a “serious breach” of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration<\/a><\/strong>, a treaty meant to safeguard Hong Kong’s legal independence and freedoms. From BBC News:<\/p>\n The statement from Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond is the UK’s strongest comment so far on the case of Lee Bo.<\/p>\n […] The UK had earlier expressed concern, but in his twice-yearly report on Hong Kong affairs, Mr Hammond said that while the full facts of the case were still not clear, “our current information indicates that Mr Lee was involuntarily removed to the mainland without any due process”.<\/p>\n “This constitutes a serious breach of the Sino-British 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.<\/p>\n Under Hong Kong law, Chinese police do not have jurisdiction in the territory.<\/p>\n It is the first time the UK has accused China of a “serious breach” of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, the document in which China promised to safeguard Hong Kong’s freedoms after the territory was handed back by Britain.<\/p>\n A Foreign Office spokeswoman said there was no legal provision to enforce a breach, but that the UK would continue to raise Mr Lee’s case with China. [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The U.K. has been accused in recent months of putting its own foreign policy up for sale<\/a> in the hope of securing a “golden relationship” with China<\/a>, downplaying criticism over human rights and Hong Kong in the process. <\/p>\n Chris Buckley at The New York Times reports that Chinese authorities have dismissed Hammond’s report and urged the British government not to interfere with Lee’s case<\/a><\/strong>, which China considers a domestic affair.<\/p>\n On Friday, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the British report as \u201cirresponsible carping and finger wagging.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe state our strong dissatisfaction and adamant disapproval of this,\u201d the spokesman, Hong Lei, said in comments issued on the ministry\u2019s website. He said Britain had no grounds to comment on Hong Kong.<\/p>\n \u201cHong Kong affairs are a domestic issue for China,\u201d Mr. Hong said, \u201cand no other country has the power to meddle.\u201d\u00a0[Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, said that Lee is considered\u00a0\u201cfirst and foremost a Chinese citizen.\u201d\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Lee Bo is one of five publishers and booksellers being held for investigation by mainland authorities. All five men have\u00a0ties to Hong Kong’s Mighty Current publishing company\u00a0and the associated Causeway Bay Bookshop<\/a><\/strong> that market books\u00a0critical of China\u2019s Communist Party leaders.\u00a0Richard Connor at DW reports:<\/p>\n Lee is among five men, with links to Hong Kong’s publishing company Mighty Current Media and its Causeway Bay Bookshop, who have been detained in recent months.<\/p>\n All five later turned up in mainland China, with activists accusing Chinese authorities of snatching and removing them from Hong Kong by force. Such actions would contravene the laws of the semi-autonomous city – formerly a British colony. The “One Country, Two Systems” agreement on Hong Kong’s post-colonial status forbids Chinese police from operating there.<\/p>\n […]\u00a0Lee’s colleague Gui Minhai disappeared from Thailand in October, and last month appeared on Chinese state television confessing to a decade-old fatal drunk driving accident. The three other men were last week said to be being held on the mainland for an investigation into unspecified “illegal activities.”The disappearances prompted protests by activists on the streets of Hong Kong last month. [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n At Hong Kong Free Press,\u00a0James Pomfret writes that the\u00a0disappearances have not only created diplomatic tensions but also raised serious questions about the Chinese government’s commitment to Hong Kong’s autonomy<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n China\u2019s reluctance to provide information and its refusal to allow British and Swedish envoys access to Lee and Gui \u2013 a breach of international conventions \u2013 is fuelling a diplomatic crisis, several senior diplomats told Reuters.<\/p>\n […]\u00a0The case has raised concerns among Hong Kong\u2019s large number of ethnic Chinese who carry foreign passports, and the apparent inability of foreign governments to get access to them should they get into trouble with China. There are now around 3.7 million British passport holders in the city of 7.2 million.<\/p>\n \u201cWe urge the authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing to take the necessary steps to maintain confidence in the system and the sanctity of the rights, freedoms and values it upholds,\u201d wrote Hammond. [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Hong Kong’s localist movement has tapped into public resentment<\/a> over China’s social, economic, and political influence in the territory; protests over the police’s removal of street food vendors erupted in violence<\/a> on Lunar New Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a bi-annual report to the British Parliament, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond expressed serious concerns over the disappearance of Lee Bo, a Hong Kong bookseller and UK passport holder who went missing late last year and is currently held in custody by officials in mainland China. In the report, Hammond wrote that Lee’s apparent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1088,"featured_media":191369,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[116,35,10,14744,14745,14746,100],"tags":[17295,17143,1526,4661,1527,17086,3227,17100,7445],"class_list":["post-191355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","category-hong-kong","category-law","category-level-2-article","category-level-3-article","category-level-4-article","category-politics","tag-causeway-bay-booksellers","tag-gui-minhai","tag-hong-kong-basic-law","tag-hong-kong-handover","tag-hong-kong-law","tag-hong-kong-publishing","tag-hong-kong-self-rule","tag-lee-bo","tag-united-kingdom","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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