Ex-HK bookseller Lam Wing-kee, detained by China in 2015, dies in Taiwan at 70
✓FILE - Freed Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee stands next to a placard with a picture of missing bookseller Gui Minhai, left, in front of his book store during a march in Hong Kong on June 18, 2016. Kin Cheung/AP hide caption
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Kin Cheung/AP
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Lam Wing-kee, a former Hong Kong bookseller who became a symbol of resistance to Beijing's crackdown on speech freedom after he was seized by Chinese authorities in late 2015, has died in Taiwan, the island's official Central News Agency reported, citing an unnamed source.
The news agency didn't give a cause of death, but said the 70-year-old Lam had a cancer relapse last year and was admitted to MacKay Memorial Hospital in Taipei on Tuesday. He fell into a coma on Wednesday and died Thursday evening, according to the report.
Lam, who previously worked at Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong, moved to Taipei in 2019 over fears of legal troubles and reopened the bookstore under the same name in the Taiwanese capital in 2020.
Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te offered his condolences in a Facebook post.
"The passing of Mr Lam Wing-kee is deeply saddening, but the courage he left behind would not fade," Lai wrote. "Taiwan will remember that a Hong Kong bookstore worker once told us in the most ordinary yet most steadfast way how precious freedom is and reminded us that democracy requires the efforts of generation after generation to defend it."
Lam was one of five people affiliated with Causeway Books who disappeared in late 2015. The store sold books and magazines purporting to reveal secrets about the inside lives of Chinese leaders and the scandals surrounding them.
One of the five, publisher Gui Minhai, went missing from his holiday home in Thailand and was later sentenced to 10 years in prison in China on a charge of illegally providing intelligence overseas.
In an act of defiance, Lam gave an explosive account of his experience in 2016 that contradicted official Chinese accounts of what happened to the five booksellers.
He said that he was seized by Chinese authorities in October 2015 after crossing the border from Hong Kong to the city of Shenzhen on China's mainland, and that he was blindfolded for a 13-hour train ride to the eastern city of Ningbo, where he was kept under 24-hour surveillance in a room for five months by rotating two-person teams.
Speaking to a packed news conference in Hong Kong, he said he was later forced to appear on Chinese television to confess to crimes.
In June, Lam told the Central News Agency that he had temporarily closed the bookstore in Taipei because of his health and that he couldn't say when it might reopen.
Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have further tightened controls over the territory following massive anti-government protests in 2019.
Hong Kong police arrested two people in June on suspicion of selling seditious publications and receiving funds from foreign political organizations, acting under a recent national security law.
Lam Wing-kee, who worked at Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong, was seized by Chinese authorities in October 2015 along with four others from the same bookstore, which sold publications about Chinese leadership. After being held for five months in Ningbo under continuous surveillance and later forced to make a televised confession, Lam was released and in 2016 publicly described his detention in detail. He relocated to Taiwan in 2019 and reopened Causeway Bay Books in Taipei in 2020. He died in Taiwan on Thursday at age 70 following a cancer relapse; he had been hospitalized on Tuesday and entered a coma on Wednesday. Taiwan's President acknowledged his death, characterizing his public account of detention as a statement about the value of freedom.
FILE - Freed Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee stands next to a placard with a picture of missing bookseller Gui Minhai, left, in front of his book store during a march in Hong Kong on June 18, 2016. Kin Cheung/AP hide caption
toggle caption
Kin Cheung/AP
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Lam Wing-kee, a former Hong Kong bookseller who became a symbol of resistance to Beijing's crackdown on speech freedom after he was seized by Chinese authorities in late 2015, has died in Taiwan, the island's official Central News Agency reported, citing an unnamed source.
The news agency didn't give a cause of death, but said the 70-year-old Lam had a cancer relapse last year and was admitted to MacKay Memorial Hospital in Taipei on Tuesday. He fell into a coma on Wednesday and died Thursday evening, according to the report.
Lam, who previously worked at Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong, moved to Taipei in 2019 over fears of legal troubles and reopened the bookstore under the same name in the Taiwanese capital in 2020.
Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te offered his condolences in a Facebook post.
"The passing of Mr Lam Wing-kee is deeply saddening, but the courage he left behind would not fade," Lai wrote. "Taiwan will remember that a Hong Kong bookstore worker once told us in the most ordinary yet most steadfast way how precious freedom is and reminded us that democracy requires the efforts of generation after generation to defend it."
Lam was one of five people affiliated with Causeway Books who disappeared in late 2015. The store sold books and magazines purporting to reveal secrets about the inside lives of Chinese leaders and the scandals surrounding them.
One of the five, publisher Gui Minhai, went missing from his holiday home in Thailand and was later sentenced to 10 years in prison in China on a charge of illegally providing intelligence overseas.
In an act of defiance, Lam gave an explosive account of his experience in 2016 that contradicted official Chinese accounts of what happened to the five booksellers.
He said that he was seized by Chinese authorities in October 2015 after crossing the border from Hong Kong to the city of Shenzhen on China's mainland, and that he was blindfolded for a 13-hour train ride to the eastern city of Ningbo, where he was kept under 24-hour surveillance in a room for five months by rotating two-person teams.
Speaking to a packed news conference in Hong Kong, he said he was later forced to appear on Chinese television to confess to crimes.
In June, Lam told the Central News Agency that he had temporarily closed the bookstore in Taipei because of his health and that he couldn't say when it might reopen.
Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have further tightened controls over the territory following massive anti-government protests in 2019.
Hong Kong police arrested two people in June on suspicion of selling seditious publications and receiving funds from foreign political organizations, acting under a recent national security law.
Lam Wing-kee was a Hong Kong bookseller who worked at Causeway Bay Books He was seized by Chinese authorities in October 2015 after crossing into Shenzhen He was transported blindfolded on a 13-hour train ride to Ningbo, where he was held under 24-hour surveillance in a room for five months He was later forced to appear on Chinese television to confess to crimes Causeway Bay Books sold books purporting to reveal secrets about Chinese leaders Four others affiliated with the bookstore disappeared at the same time Lam moved to Taiwan in 2019 and reopened the bookstore in Taipei in 2020 He died in Taiwan at age 70 after a cancer relapse Lam became a symbol of resistance to Beijing's crackdown on speech freedom His public 2016 account of his detention contradicted official Chinese accounts
- Lam Wing-kee, a Hong Kong bookseller who was detained by Chinese authorities in 2015, has died in Taiwan at age 70 after a cancer relapse.
- Lam was one of five Causeway Bay Books employees who disappeared in late 2015; the store sold books about Chinese leadership.
- After his release, Lam publicly described being seized, blindfolded, transported to Ningbo, and held under surveillance for five months, then forced to confess on Chinese television.
- He fled to Taiwan in 2019 and reopened Causeway Bay Books there in 2020 before closing it due to health issues.
- Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te called Lam's death sad but noted his legacy as a symbol of freedom's importance.