Hong Kong Publishers Reportedly Being Kidnapped By Chinese Authorities, Taken To Mainland

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

A Hong Kong lawmaker said Sunday he believes Chinese security officers kidnapped five publishing company employees who have gone missing in the city, possibly because of a planned book about the former love life of President Xi Jinping.

 

The five work for a publishing house known for producing books critical of the Chinese government.

 

The disappearances add to growing unease that freedoms in the semi-autonomous Chinese city are being eroded.

 

Under Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, it enjoys freedom of speech and Chinese law enforcers have no right to operate in the city.

 

It is unclear where the men are or how they went missing.

 

– From the AFP article: Missing Hong Kong Booksellers “Working on Book on Xi’s Love Life”

For several years now, I’ve periodically observed that China’s increasingly aggressive crackdown on dissent serves as a harbinger of far more difficult times ahead. The thinking goes that if anyone is privy to the severe fragility of the country’s economic situation, it would be Chinese leadership. As such, desperate moves by Chinese leadership should foretell drastically worse economic and social conditions.

As an example, here’s an excerpt from this summer’s post, Chinese Authorities Arrest Over 100 Human Rights Activists and Lawyers in Desperate Crackdown on Dissent:

While China doesn’t have any illusion of democracy to begin with, that doesn’t make the situation any less significant. While media attention has been focused on the popping of China’s stock market bubble, what has been far more interesting is the government’s terrified response. It has simply put, entered full on panic mode. Freezing trading in a large percentage of listed equities, and even threatening to arrest so-called “malicious short sellers.”

 

I have long stated that the situation in China is much more fragile than anyone cares to recognize or admit. I continue to think revolution/regime change in China presents a real risk in the years ahead, and I think the Communist Party is well aware of it. This is precisely why the heavy hammer of government is coming down upon political (and economic) dissent with increased force.

The scramble to crack down on dissent has become so intense Chinese authorities seem to be now exerting illegal force against residents of Hong Kong. Of course, this story is long in the making, as the massive protests that broke out a little over a year ago known as the “umbrella revolution,” was in fact a protest against Beijing’s moves to ensure that Hong Kong leadership remain loyal puppets to the authorities on the mainland. As the Guardian explained at the time:

Hong Kong, a former British colony of 7 million people, has been governed under a “one country, two systems” framework since it was handed back to Chinese control in 1997. The principle is simple in theory — Beijing is responsible for the city’s defence and foreign affairs; Hong Kong enjoys limited self-governance and civil liberties, including an independent judiciary and unrestricted press.

 

Its top political post – that of chief executive – is chosen by a “nominating committee” of 1,200 people, most of them from pro-Beijing elites. Yet when Beijing regained control over the city, it promised that the region would be able to elect its top leader by universal suffrage by 2017. The group guiding the current protests – set up 18 months ago by two professors and a baptist minister under the banner Occupy Central with Love and Peace — threatened to paralyse the city’s central business district if Beijing broke its word.

 

Nobody knew when, or if, the protest would occur, but in August Beijing passed a reform framework to stipulate universal suffrage on its own terms – only two or three committee-vetted candidates who “love the country” would be allowed to run. Activists considered this the last straw. Students began a class boycott last Monday and, galvanised by a city-wide surge in support, staged a large-scale protest outside of the city government headquarters on Friday night. Occupy Central mobilised on Sunday. The rest is unfolding as you read.

So the writing has been on the wall for quite some time. Emboldened, it appears Chinese authorities are now simply kidnapping people in Hong Kong they deem to be subversive.

Bloomberg reports:

The disappearance of a Hong Kong-based publisher of books critical of China’s Communist Party is fueling concerns that tactics used to limit dissent on the mainland are being exported to the former British colony.

 

Lee Bo, part owner of Causeway Bay Books, was reported missing Friday by his wife, who said her last contact with him was from a telephone number from Shenzhen, across the mainland border. Hong Kong police have asked their Chinese counterparts about the 65-year-old bookseller, who disappeared from Hong Kong several months after four others related to the store vanished.

 

Concerns about encroachment on Hong Kong’s freedoms under President Xi Jinping sparked the student-led democracy protests that paralyzed parts of the city for months in 2014. Since coming to power, Xi has embarked on a campaign on the mainland to tighten the party’s grip on power that has included secret detentions and convictions for spreading information deemed dangerous.

 

“The possible intrusion into Hong Kong by law enforcement agencies in China would shatter the sense of security that is provided by One Country, Two Systems,” said Albert Ho, a lawmaker and chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, referring to the blueprint for Hong Kong’s autonomy. “If that sense of security is being shattered, then the underlying confidence in ‘One Country, Two Systems’ would be torn apart.”

 

Lee’s bookstore was popular among tourists from mainland China as a source of salacious books about the country’s elite banned on the mainland. He was last seen leaving a warehouse on Hong Kong island used by the company.

 

Lee’s wife approached local police on Monday and withdrew a request for help, the South China Morning Post reported, citing a government official it didn’t identify. Taiwan’s Central News Agency also published a handwritten letter said to be faxed from Lee to a bookstore colleague. In it, he said he took his “own way” to China to assist in an investigation that might take some time.

Yes, of course. Totally normal to leave a warehouse and then disappear to the Chinese mainland in order to “help with an investigation,” without telling your wife first.

Lee’s case is resonating among Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activists, who seized city streets for almost three months in 2014 after China unveiled a plan to elect the city’s leader from a pool of candidates vetted by Beijing. A video in which Agnes Chow — a member of the pro-democracy student group Scholarism — described Lee’s disappearance as a “white terror incident” has garnered more than 800,000 views.

 

Xi has been cracking down on dissent in China since he took over as party chief in November 2012, overseeing a more restrictive ideological environment. In the most recent summer, dozens of members of the so-called rights-defense movement were detained over allegations they attempted to manipulate court cases.

 

Lee’s disappearance came after four of his colleagues vanished within days of each other. Bookstore manager Lam Wing-kei; general manager of the publishing house Lui Bo; and business manager, Cheung Jiping, went missing in October while visiting the mainland, the South China Morning Post reported. Gui Minhai, a co-owner with Lee of the publisher Mighty Current, disappeared from his apartment in Thailand the same month.

 

The reach of China’s law enforcement agencies has riled authorities in other countries. Australia’s government last year expressed “deep concerns” after China sent two police officers to Melbourne in late 2014 without permission to question a suspected economic fugitive. The Obama administration has requested that China recall agents pursuing Chinese corruption suspects in the U.S., the New York Times reported in August.

How do you say panic in Mandarin?

The AFP adds some additional tidbits to the developing story:

A Hong Kong lawmaker said Sunday he believes Chinese security officers kidnapped five publishing company employees who have gone missing in the city, possibly because of a planned book about the former love life of President Xi Jinping.

 

The five work for a publishing house known for producing books critical of the Chinese government.

The disappearances add to growing unease that freedoms in the semi-autonomous Chinese city are being eroded.

 

Under Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, it enjoys freedom of speech and Chinese law enforcers have no right to operate in the city.

 

It is unclear where the men are or how they went missing.

 

Ho said it was “outrageous” for Lee to have disappeared in the city.

 

“We have a reason to believe he was politically abducted and illegally transferred to the mainland,” he said.

 

Lee’s wife said Saturday her husband told her he was “assisting in an investigation” in a phone call after he failed to return home for dinner Wedesday.

 

She reported him missing to police Friday and said the call he made to her was from a number in the neighbouring Chinese city of Shenzhen.

 

“He said he wouldn’t be back so soon and he was assisting in an investigation,” she said.

 

Agnes Chow of leading student campaign group Scholarism appealed to the international community for help.

 

“I hope everyone in the world who believes in universal values of freedom and human rights could stand up,” she said in a Facebook post.

 

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Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:20 | 7001850 Hongcha
Hongcha's picture

Paging William Banzai ... paging William Banzai ... please pick up a white courtesy phone and dial zero for assistance ...

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:24 | 7001860 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

Banzai 7 knows the risks and has spoken about them publicly on several occasions. But it's one thing to talk about it and another to see it in action.

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:29 | 7001871 Buckaroo Banzai
Buckaroo Banzai's picture

Dang, it's almost like they are Communists, or something.

Under Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, it enjoys freedom of speech and Chinese law enforcers have no right to operate in the city.

"I have altered the terms of the deal. Pray I do not alter them any further."

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 18:27 | 7002092 Four chan
Four chan's picture

i thought slave owners were allowed to cheat?

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 18:33 | 7002121 HowdyDoody
HowdyDoody's picture

Kidnapping dissidents? How totally barbaric. Civilised nations hold secret courts to consider secret evidence and following the predetermined verdict, use a drone to blow them to smithereens.

 

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 18:58 | 7002234 MagicHandPuppet
MagicHandPuppet's picture

"All your publisher are belong to us!"

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 19:31 | 7002363 beemasters
beemasters's picture

I can understand Michael Hastings "murdered" for his CIA investigation, but "kidnapped" for a love-life exposé/gossip??? It makes no sense. Xi should have learned from those like Singapore leadership - take their critics to court and bankrupt them through the corrupted judicial system.

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 19:58 | 7002444 Stainless Steel Rat
Stainless Steel Rat's picture

Just imagine being one of "the most dangerous people in financial media".  But seriously, they want to send a chill so it works even if they only do it to gossip columnists.

Wed, 01/06/2016 - 05:44 | 7003656 HowdyDoody
HowdyDoody's picture

Come on ZH, 'hundreds of human rights activists' ....

These stooges are just part of another US-supported regime change outfit. The local Chinese (extremely wealthy) leaders organising the Umberella Revolution (TM) are all bought-and-paid-for by the US.

Yet ZH laps it all up. Where is the famed scepticism of ZHers?

 

 

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 19:53 | 7002428 beemasters
beemasters's picture

These journalists were probably not intelligent enough to have some kind of "insurance policy" in place.

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 18:35 | 7002127 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Ahhh, fuck it, this shit never gets old, so one moar time.

Deep Thinking With...Thomas Friedman:

"One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. (Edit: Oh yeah Tommy boi, now what would those be?) But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, (Edit:lol) it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century."

Yeah, like pumping paper like the other crony-socialist bitches Bernanke & Yellen closer to you here.

Authoritarian-socialist-prick.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/opinion/09friedman.html

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 18:58 | 7002235 Baby Bladeface
Baby Bladeface's picture

This Krieger guy naive. If 'publishers' associated with failed Hong Kong colour revolution late 2014, they taking pay from State Department.

Is well known, except to Krieger, sponsors of pro-'democracy' and now appear trouble wanting again to stir. To find this information and Wikileaks do not need:

Hong Kong’s “Occupy Central” Fooling No One
http://www.globalresearch.ca/hong-kongs-occupy-central-fooling-no-one/54...

Neo-Cons and Corporate Fascists for Hong Kong Democracy
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.ca/2014/11/neo-cons-and-corporate-fascists...

‘Pro-Democracy Protests’ in Hong Kong
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/11/07/pro-democracy-protests-in-hong-kong/

Hong Kong's People Have Spoken - End the Protests
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.ca/2014/11/hong-kongs-people-have-spoken-e...

Mr. William Banzai smart man and nothing for worrying about this has. Krieger hysterical like menstruating girl, article attempts to stretch an owl on the globe and nothing more.

Wed, 01/06/2016 - 05:46 | 7003659 HowdyDoody
HowdyDoody's picture

Krieger isn't naive. He worked for Lehmann. He's a bankster. He knows how it works. The question is - who is paying him to write pieces of 'social importance'.

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 19:05 | 7002260 SILVERGEDDON
SILVERGEDDON's picture

Ho Li Fuk

Wi Gao Bai Bai.

No Fu Ling.

Coming soon to a Chinese mainland neighborhood near Beijing.

" Well, Chung, there's two billion of us against a couple hundred thousand of them. Pretty good odds, dontchya think ? "

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:24 | 7001865 WhackoWarner
WhackoWarner's picture

While China doesn’t have any illusion of democracy to begin with, that doesn’t make the situation any less significant.

 

Good Lord.  USA USA USA fools.

 

Paging WB House phone for WB.

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 18:03 | 7002015 KesselRunin12Parsecs
KesselRunin12Parsecs's picture

Female announcer: No, the white zone is for loading of passengers and there is no stopping in a RED zone.

Male announcer: The red zone has always been for loading and unloading of passengers. There's never stopping in a white zone.

Female announcer: Don't you tell me which zone is for loading, and which zone is for stopping!

Male announcer: Listen Betty, don't start up with your white zone shit again.

[Later]

Male announcer: There's just no stopping in a white zone.

Female announcer: Oh really, Vernon? Why pretend, we both know perfectly well what this is about. You want me to have an abortion.

Male announcer: It's really the only sensible thing to do, if its done safely. Therapeutically there's no danger involved.

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:37 | 7001911 LoneStarHog
LoneStarHog's picture

How you say NDAA in Chinese?

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:40 | 7001931 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

Hong Kongers getting Shanghai'd?

Say it ain't so.

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 19:37 | 7002391 Luckhasit
Luckhasit's picture

Wrod, Banzai says anything and he gets the KimDotCom treatment.

Kinda like how James Corbert leaves the Japanese government alone.  ZHers should check out his vids on youtube however, he has great information and great guests.

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:28 | 7001879 stant
stant's picture

WB 7 watch your 6 . Can't be replaced here on zh

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:34 | 7001895 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Where's he been lately anyway?  I know he went through some rough times recently but I don't recall him saying he was waiting for the Chi-Coms to give him the bum's rush to the door.

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:28 | 7001880 bamawatson
bamawatson's picture

boy o boy; sure is comforting to know nothing like that can ever happen in the good ole u s of a

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:28 | 7001881 Max Steel
Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:38 | 7001915 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

Xi = Bang DaeHo?

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:39 | 7001921 Chris Dakota
Chris Dakota's picture

Most favored nation

that we gave our manufacturing base in exchange for a rust belt.

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:41 | 7001934 Squid Viscous
Squid Viscous's picture

Bang ding -OWW!

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:41 | 7001935 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

These guys are Peking Duck.

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:47 | 7001960 lesterbegood
Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:49 | 7001962 Ms No
Ms No's picture

The whole world is turning into a shithole.  At least here we could breathe and had a little space so that we didn't feel like whatever it is that Hillary has smashed together under her clothes.

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:54 | 7001979 moonmac
moonmac's picture

We’re being told not to expect workers back for 4 weeks after Chinese New Year if they decide to come back at all. Ungrateful chinks should feel rucky to have brand new dorms in our factory.

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 17:59 | 7002001 turnoffthewater
turnoffthewater's picture

In the future, wonder how the US government will react to the book on Bill Clinton

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 18:04 | 7002019 MASTER OF UNIVERSE
MASTER OF UNIVERSE's picture

Thy were all invited to a National Spelling Bee, but forgot to notify next-of-kin due to the hot Saki offered at the time.

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 18:23 | 7002077 besnook
besnook's picture

which is freer? is it a .gov you know will probably crack down on any dissent and tells you beforehand that it will? or is it the .gov who tells you you are free and .gov is benevolent but throws you in jail for questioning that meme?

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 18:42 | 7002155 HowdyDoody
HowdyDoody's picture

Mr Blitz Krieg worked for Lehmann. Following the controlled demolition he found himself adrift, eventually ending up driving about, settling in Boulder to write pieces of societal importance.

Wow - a bankster with a social conscience.

 

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 18:42 | 7002156 Flybyknight
Flybyknight's picture

Do we know that they are being kidnapped and taken to the mainland or is this more neocon shithead false flag , colour revolution bullshit

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 19:08 | 7002278 I AM SULLY
I AM SULLY's picture

(China doesn't need Soros' help to tip over)

(it has "tipped over" a few times in the last 100 years)

(last time - "Cultural Revolution": 65-75)

Wed, 01/06/2016 - 05:49 | 7003663 HowdyDoody
HowdyDoody's picture

Regime change shit definitely - possibly with a bit of truth as a foundation - e.g. one person may have been taken to the mainland for questioning over some unrelated activity on the mainland, sprinkle with NeoCon bullshit and voila, standard ZH clickbait.

 

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 18:43 | 7002159 I AM SULLY
I AM SULLY's picture

Wow - I totally see how China takes over when we collapse ...

(not)

(there are no safe havens)

(the whole civilized world is fucked)

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 18:43 | 7002162 Omega_Man
Omega_Man's picture

seems ok to me, I am sure they were urged to do this from Nuland. I see nothing wrong with chop chop anyone in bed with the zios

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 19:03 | 7002253 unicorn
unicorn's picture

Gleichschaltung bitches.

 

"Wherever books are burned, human beings are destined to be burned too."

Heinrich Heine.

 

see history of burning books:

(bit dry reading but facts): http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005852

(bit more lively): http://www.dw.com/en/cultural-incineration-80-years-since-nazi-book-burn...

 

 

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 19:27 | 7002350 insanelysane
insanelysane's picture

I spoke with someone over the holidays that does a lot of business in China.  He said that there are a ton of mid level businessmen that have gone missing in the past year.  Not a great place to be.

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 19:34 | 7002377 Omega_Man
Omega_Man's picture

did these trouble makers really believed they lived in a non commie nation? idiots 

besides sounds like they were making trouble. 

 

I heard some people were offed in USA for saying Obama was gay

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 23:06 | 7003141 blue51
blue51's picture

I heard Star Trek was REAL.

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 20:00 | 7002452 nah
nah's picture

A government that kidnaps people

.

is capable of doing what exactly

.

outright criminal acts

Tue, 01/05/2016 - 21:22 | 7002786 InnVestuhrr
InnVestuhrr's picture

Yeah, China, its currency, and its sovereign bonds are surely going to replace the USA, USD and US treasuries any day soon as the gold cult worshipers are so prolific in prophesizing, they are SO SO SO ready to be the world monetary, economic, financial and military leader.

I had to lock my office door and turn off the phone to block all the institutional and high-net worth investment clients who are demanding that I move their money from the boring risky USA to the much more exciting safer China.

[I had to take tranquilizers to stop laughing long enough to write this]

Wed, 01/06/2016 - 00:59 | 7003414 onmail1
onmail1's picture

If the govt is right

this is what they should do

Hong Kong is teeming with western spies & pro-west ppl who think that western way is the only right way but they are wrong, who dares next?

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!