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.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS