Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee (林榮基) said that China was behind an attack against him, after his three alleged assailants were released on bail yesterday.
“The Chinese Communist Party’s proxies have a history of attacks carried out against Hong Kongers who fled to Taiwan,” Lam told reporters. “Now they are only causing trouble for Hong Kongers, but later they will make trouble for Taiwanese.”
Lam said that he would be more vigilant.
Photo taken from the Mainland Affairs Council’s Facebook page
“I was quite surprised to hear that the suspects got released on bail so quickly,” he added. “I am, of course, fearful and will avoid walking down dark alleys.”
Lam was co-owner of Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay Books (銅鑼灣書店), but was kidnapped in 2015 and detained in China for eight months for selling books banned by the Chinese government.
He was finally freed on bail and returned to Hong Kong, but opted not to return to China to face trial. He fled to Taiwan in May last year.
The opening of his new bookstore in Taipei is planned for tomorrow.
On Tuesday, Lam was at a coffee shop in Taipei when he was doused in red paint by an assailant, who street cameras showed fleeing on foot while two other men acted as lookouts.
Police in Kaohsiung on Wednesday arrested the three suspects — identified as Cheng Chi-lung (鄭啟龍), 55, who has a criminal record, along with brothers Tseng Shih-sheng (曾士晟), 28, and Tseng Shih-feng (曾士峰), 27 — and transferred them to Taipei for questioning.
Besides promising to enhance patrols around Lam’s new bookstore, Taipei police cited evidence of additional suspects, saying that they were tracking them down.
Yesterday, the three were released on bail of between NT$6,000 and NT$20,000.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday applied with the High Court to have the three returned to detention, saying that they are likely to collude with the other suspects sought and destroy evidence.
Lam urged Taiwanese authorities to determine the mastermind behind the attack, saying that China had sent its proxies to Taiwan to physically assault and silence Hong Kongers.
On Sept. 29 last year, Hong Kong singer and actress Denise Ho (何韻詩) was also attacked in Taipei with red paint, during a pro-democracy rally for Hong Kong.
“It is not just one or two people, but a whole group of people working for China,” Lam said. “If the authorities do not get to the real force behind them, these incidents will continue to occur.”
An Internet user named “Jonathan Gao” further threatened Lam on the Mainland Affairs Council’s Facebook page, writing: “Lam you had better be careful — that was only our first warning to you. We have many gangster brothers in Taipei and we have many ways to harass you to death.”
The “Jonathan Gao” Facebook account belongs to someone who claims to be from Taiwan, but who resides in Singapore, Taipei police said, adding that the person purportedly belongs to several pro-China organizations, including the Concentric Patriotism Alliance and the China Unification Promotion Party.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS