Delegations, notifications and a formal letter: CY Leung’s three-pronged strategy for settling bookseller row

Hong Kong’s leader yesterday promised he would write to Beijing to officially register public concerns about the bookseller controversy, making it a matter of importance on the record for the city and central governments. Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying also undertook to improve the notification system between police on both sides, and send delegates across the border to follow up if necessary. Booksellers: claims vs counter-claims Responding for the first time to returned bookseller Lam Wing-kee’s explosive claims last week about his abduction and eight months of detention on the mainland, Leung tried to reassure a jittery public that his administration would protect Hongkongers. But he refused to say what he would do if the mainland sought the return of Lam, who said he was nabbed by agents from a central special investigation unit when he crossed the border into Shenzhen in October. Lam ran afoul of mainland authorities by smuggling books that are banned across the border for their critical and gossip-filled content about China’s leaders, and could still be wanted there. Stressing that he understood Hongkongers’ intense concern over the bookseller storm and the integrity of the “one country, two systems” policy that guarantees the city’s autonomy, Leung said he would formally apprise Beijing of the situation in writing. Leung promised a review of the existing mechanism under which mainland police need to inform their counterparts in the city in case of detention of Hong Kong residents. In the case of Lam and four of his associates who went missing, only to turn up later on the mainland, Hong Kong police spent weeks trying to get information from the other side. Three cigarettes and a long wait at Hong Kong train station pushed bookseller into turning away from border “We believe that there’s room for review and possibly improvement in the notification system [with a view to] enable the SAR government and the individual’s family to know about their whereabouts sooner [and] ensure they enjoy their legal rights,” Leung said. He did not specify whether it would be a joint effort. “If necessary, I shall dispatch my government colleagues to follow up on these points,” he said. Local police were still waiting to meet Lam for details of his stunning testimony – after he first asked them to drop his missing person’s case upon his return. They would have to wait until Thursday or Friday, Democratic Party lawmaker Albert Ho Chun-yan said, because Lam had to “entertain media interviews” first. Lam told the Post yesterday that the chief executive’s reassurances were “useless”, regardless of when they were made. Lam’s son stepped into the fray, vowing to put mainland law enforcement to a test by an abrupt trip across the border yesterday. “I’ve crossed the border,” Phoenix Lam posted on his Facebook at around 6pm. He said he had no part in his father’s publishing business and there was no reason to detain him. Ho was not impressed by the chief executive’s promises. “It’s not Hong Kong’s duty to write a report. It’s the mainland government’s,” Ho said. “[Leung] The chief executive should travel to Beijing and relay Hongkongers’ worry face to face.” Liberal Party chairman Felix Chung Kwok-pan agreed that the cross-border notification system had proved ineffective. Lam’s detention in Ningbo, including the six months he claimed to have spent in solitary confinement, was never disclosed to Hong Kong police when they were seeking answers. There was only confirmation that the five missing booksellers, four of whom have returned home since, were “on the mainland”. Daughter of last bookseller in custody slams Chinese government for not respecting fair trial Asked about Lam’s safety in Hong Kong, Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok said he need only approach police for protection. But Lai stopped short of clarifying whether local police would turn down any requests from mainland authorities for Lam’s return or information on the booksellers’ mainland customers. “For any requests made by mainland authorities, Hong Kong police would definitely work according to Hong Kong laws,” he said.

Delegations, notifications and a formal letter: CY Leung’s three-pronged strategy for settling bookseller row

As city’s top official admits detention notification with mainland has ‘room for improvement’, pro-democracy leaders blast him for doing too little, too late