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.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
WAR’S END ANNIVERSARY: ‘Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,’ the president said on social media after attending a morning ceremony Countries should uphold peace, and promote freedom and democracy, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday as Taiwan marked 80 years since the end of World War II and the Second Sino-Japanese War. Lai, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and other top officials in the morning attended a ceremony at the National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) to honor those who sacrificed their lives in major battles. “Taiwanese are peace-loving. Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,” Lai wrote on Facebook afterward, apparently to highlight the contrast with the military parade in Beijing marking the same anniversary. “We
RSS