Bookseller Lam Wing-kee Dead at 70

Lam was the owner of Causeway Bay Books 

Lam Wing-kee, the Hong Kong bookseller who was in the news for being abducted and detained on the Chinese mainland in 2015, has died at the age of 70 following a years-long battle with cancer in Taipei.

Before then it was an open secret that books critical of Chinese leaders were sold in Hong Kong, and those curious to learn more would head to Causeway Bay Books, as these kinds of publications were banned on the mainland.

His press conference in 2016 attracted attention

However, on October 24, 2015, he and four others related to the bookstore had disappeared, and it wasn't until February 4, 2016 that the provincial authorities in Guangdong confirmed Lam was in their custody, along with two others.

Eight months after he was detained, Lam was allowed to return to Hong Kong to fetch more information on the customers of the bookstore, but instead of returning to the mainland as instructed by the authorities, he held an unprecedented press conference with legislator Albert Ho Chun-yan.

Lam claimed he was abducted by mainland officials at the Hong Kong-China border in Shenzhen in October 2015, and that he was blindfolded and handcuffed, and transported to Ningbo. He recounted being held in solitary confinement, interrogated and accused of illegally sending banned books to the mainland, that his confession on mainland TV was scripted, and the Hong Kong government didn't help him at all.

That press conference really made Hongkongers worried about their safety -- they were used to rule of law, knowing their rights, having access to a lawyer and an unbiased judge. But what happened to Lam could happen to anyone. And then what? What legal protections did they have if the Hong Kong government didn't assist them?

It seemed their greatest fears about China were actually happening.

Lam moved to Taiwan in 2019

In April 2019 Lam was in the news again for relocating to Taiwan, following the proposal of the extradition bill in Hong Kong. Opposition to that bill later morphed into the biggest protest marches for months in the city's history that were later quelled by the end of the year.

Lam started his life again in Taipei, crowdfunding to open his bookstore, Causeway Bay Books in 2020. When he opened it, Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen sent flowers and a congratulatory note. She later came in person.

Two years later, Lam revealed he had stage one lung cancer, and was receiving chemotherapy treatment. But by last July, he told the media that his cancer had already progressed to stage four, with some cancer cells close to his heart.

He slowly wound up his business and it was suspended last month.

Many will remember his courageousness in revealing what happened to him as a warning to others.

In a BBC interview last year, Lam said: "Everyone has their own values. You can't go against your values, nor can you betray others.

"If you believe something is right, you should continue to stick to it. It's not like you're harming anyone. If everyone could do that, this would of course be a better place."