Hong Kong bookseller ‘removed’ in breach of China treaty: UK

Britain says a missing Hong Kong bookseller was likely abducted to mainland China, calling it a "serious breach" of the treaty under which Beijing took control of the city.

In Britain's strongest comments yet on the case, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in a twice-yearly report on Hong Kong affairs released yesterday that Lee Bo was "involuntarily removed" to the mainland. 

Lee, a British citizen, is one of five men linked to Hong Kong publishing company Mighty Current Media and its Causeway Bay Bookshop who have gone missing in recent months only to turn up later in mainland China. Their disappearances have raised international concern, Lee is chief editor of Mighty Current, which specialized in books critical of China's communist leadership that were banned in the mainland but popular with visiting Chinese tourists. Hammond said while visiting Beijing last month that he made urgent inquiries with Chinese authorities about Lee's whereabouts.

Lee's disappearance at the end of December sparked international concern because he was last seen at his company's Hong Kong warehouse and didn't have his mainland China travel permit with him, raising suspicions he was snatched by Chinese security agents who crossed over from the mainland. 

He later sent letters to his wife saying he was helping with an investigation on the mainland, though some believe he was coerced. 

"The full facts of the case remain unclear, but our current information indicates that Mr. Lee was involuntarily removed to the mainland without any due process under Hong Kong SAR law," the report said.