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Hong Kong Bookseller Who Vanished in 2015 Dies in Taiwan at 70
Lam Wing-kee, manager of Causeway Bay Books, died Thursday evening in Taipei after a cancer relapse. He had been seized by Chinese authorities in 2015 and later moved to Taiwan, where he reopened the store.
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Lam Wing-kee, the former manager of Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong, died Thursday evening in Taipei at age 70 after a cancer relapse, Taiwan’s official Central News Agency reported. The agency said Lam was admitted to MacKay Memorial Hospital on Tuesday, fell into a coma on Wednesday, and died Thursday evening. It did not state a cause of death.
Background on the 2015 Disappearance Lam was one of five people affiliated with Causeway Bay Books who disappeared in late 2015. The store sold books and magazines unavailable in mainland China, including titles that claimed to reveal details about Chinese leaders.
He later said Chinese authorities seized him in October 2015 after he crossed into Shenzhen, blindfolded him for a 13-hour train ride to Ningbo, and held him under 24-hour surveillance for five months. He said he was later forced to appear on Chinese television to confess to crimes.
Lam moved to Taipei in 2019 and reopened Causeway Bay Books there in 2020. Last month he told the Central News Agency that he had temporarily closed the store because of his health. " — Taiwan’s President, Facebook post A man from Hong Kong left a white rose outside the closed Taipei store on Monday.
Hong Kong police, acting under a 2024 national security law, arrested two people in June who reportedly own a bookstore and are suspected of selling seditious publications. Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have tightened control over the city since 2019 anti-government protests, shutting down virtually all dissent.
