Lam Wing-kei (林榮基), the former manager of Hong Kong-based Causeway Bay Books who was detained for eight months by Chinese agents and released in June last year, was quoted by Japanese media on Friday as saying that he plans to open a bookstore in Taiwan later this year.
Lam has made several visits to Taiwan since his ordeal, most recently to attend the Taipei International Book Exhibition in February.
“In terms of protection of quaternary sectors of the economy such as medicine, science and education, Hong Kong can’t be discussed on equal terms with Taiwan,” Lam told the Nikkei newspaper in an interview.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
He said he aims to open the bookstore in the second half of the year, with the assistance of an anonymous Hong Kong-based democracy advocacy group.
“The most important thing is finding the right people and the right location,” Lam said, adding that he would not be involved in the day-to-day operations of the store, but would act as a consultant.
“It’s more symbolic than anything else — symbolic of resistance, like what Causeway Bay Books was,” he said.
Lam said he is 90 percent sure about the plans to open a bookstore to Taiwan, adding: “Taiwan could help Hong Kong by planting the seed of independence and a new philosophy.”
“This ‘independence’ is not just referring to political independence, but also spiritual independence,” he said.
Causeway Bay Books was popular with tourists in search of books banned in China. From October to December 2015, Lam and four other people associated with the bookstore went missing.
One of the five, Gui Minhai (桂民海) — publisher and co-owner of Mighty Current (巨流), the parent company of Causeway Bay Books — remains in custody.
Lee Bo (李波), a major shareholder of the bookstore, was taken to China directly from Hong Kong on Dec. 30, prompting concerns that Beijing is tightening its grip on the semi-autonomous territory.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
STUMPED: KMT and TPP lawmakers approved a resolution to suspend the rate hike, which the government said was unavoidable in view of rising global energy costs The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it has a mandate to raise electricity prices as planned after the legislature passed a non-binding resolution along partisan lines to freeze rates. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers proposed the resolution to suspend the price hike, which passed by a 59-50 vote. The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) voted with the KMT. Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the KMT said the resolution is a mandate for the “immediate suspension of electricity price hikes” and for the Executive Yuan to review its energy policy and propose supplementary measures. A government-organized electricity price evaluation board in March
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China is mischaracterizing UN Resolution 2758 for its own interests by conflating it with its “one China” principle, US Deputy Assistant Secretary for China and Taiwan Mark Lambert said on Monday. Speaking at a seminar held by the German Marshall Fund, Lambert called for support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the international community at a time when China is increasingly misusing Resolution 2758. The resolution had a clear impact when it changed who occupied the China seat at the UN, Lambert said. “Today, however, the PRC [People’s Republic of China] increasingly mischaracterizes and misuses Resolution 2758 to serve its own interests,” Lambert said. “Beijing