Police in Kaohsiung yesterday arrested three men suspected of being involved in an attack on a Hong Kong bookseller in Taipei the previous day.
Lam Wing-kei (林榮基), a co-owner of Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay Books (銅鑼灣書店), who fled to Taiwan over fear of Chinese persecution, had red paint thrown on him on Tuesday morning by a man at a coffee shop in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山), just as his new bookshop in the city is set to open on Saturday.
The man fled the scene on foot, said Lam, who immediately notified the police, adding that he believed the attack was related to the new bookstore’s opening.
Photo: CNA
Early yesterday, police arrested two suspects — one man, 27, who allegedly carried out the attack, and another, 51, who is believed to have given the order. A third suspect was apprehended later in the day.
The three men, all residents of Kaohsiung, traveled to Taipei on Monday, the day before the attack, leading the police to think it was premeditated.
The incident occurred one day after Lam received a letter from a lawyer representing a bookstore in New Taipei City.
The firm accused Lam of registering a similar name to compete unfairly in the same line of business, while also infringing on its trademark, he said on Monday.
“I didn’t expect them to register and open another fake store in Taiwan,” he said, implying that the competitor is a front for Chinese authorities.
The Department of Commerce’s business registry Web site showed that the New Taipei City store is represented by a man named Chiang Tung-chan (蔣東展) and has a capital investment of NT$50,000.
The company, which does not have an English name, was registered on March 3 in Jhonghe District (中和), the registry showed.
Lam’s store was officially registered on March 31, with the English name “Causeway Bay Books Ltd,” and a Chinese name that is almost identical to the one in New Taipei City, except that it has the characters “Zhongshan” (中山) at the front of the registered name.
Lam said that his lawyer is dealing with the matter, and that he still plans to open his store in Taipei on Saturday.
Lam was one of five shareholders and staff at Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong, which sold gossip-filled books about China’s leaders.
He disappeared into Chinese custody at the end of 2015, and was released on bail and allowed to return to Hong Kong in June 2016 to retrieve a hard drive listing the bookstore’s customers.
Instead, he jumped bail and went public.
‘BADGE OF HONOR’: Lithuanian lawmaker Dovile Sakaliene, who is on China’s travel ban list, said delegation members joked that they would be joining her on it soon A delegation led by the chairman of the Lithuanian Parliamentary Group for Relations with Taiwan yesterday arrived in Taipei to participate in a conference on democracy later this week. The group, led by Matas Maldeikis, a Lithuanian lawmaker and an outspoken critic of China, touched down at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 6:18am yesterday. Maldeikis said at the airport that he expected the trip to enhance understanding between Taiwan and Lithuania after cooperation between the two sides took a big step forward this past year. “This trip will be another step in understanding each other because we are dealing with the same challenges,”
INVASION: Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said: ‘A Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency, and therefore an emergency for the Japan-US alliance’ Japan and the US could not stand by if China attacked Taiwan, and Beijing needs to understand this, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday. Speaking virtually to a forum organized by Taiwanese think tank the Institute for National Policy Research, Abe said that the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — the Sakishima Islands and Yonaguni Island are only about 100km from Taiwan. An invasion of Taiwan would be a grave danger to Japan, he said. “A Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency, and therefore an emergency for the Japan-US alliance. People in Beijing, [Chinese] President
‘HISTORIC’: The passage of the resolution by both chambers of the French parliament shows their concrete support for Taiwan’s global participation, the foreign ministry said The government yesterday thanked the French National Assembly for adopting a resolution on Monday in support of Taiwan’s international participation, following a similar resolution passed by the French Senate in May. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs praised the resolution’s passage as “historic” and as demonstrating the concrete support of both chambers of the French parliament for Taiwan’s participation in international affairs. Taiwan and France have shared a long-standing partnership characterized by a high level of trust, and based on the shared values of democracy, freedom and human rights, the ministry said. Passed on Monday in a 39-2 vote with three abstentions, the non-legally
GET A BOOST: After considering the potential for local outbreaks amid an increase in cases abroad, a committee recommended adolescents receive their second shots The level 2 COVID-19 alert is to be extended until Dec. 13, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced yesterday, as it advised people in six high-risk groups to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot. It also recommended that adolescents aged 12 to 17 who had a first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine receive a second shot. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the nationwide level 2 alert would remain in place for two more weeks from today. Chen said that during New Year’s events eating and drinking might be allowed in designated areas, while
RSS