‘Hong Kong is not Hong Kong anymore’: Agnes Chow criticises China over alleged abduction of booksellers

By Coconuts Hong Kong

Jan 4, 2016 | 7:11pm Hong Kong time

Scholarism’s Agnes Chow spoke out against China in a viral video this weekend, after a fifth bookseller associated with controversial publisher Mighty Current, 65-year-old Lee Bo, was reported missing.

Chow, 19, who was a prominent figure during last year’s Umbrella Movement protests, posted a five-minute English-language video titled “An Urgent Cry from Hong Kong” to Facebook on Saturday. The video has since been viewed over 830,000 times.

The university student slammed Chinese authorities for infringing on the rights of Hongkongers, calling the alleged abduction of the bookseller a “white terror incident”, a term used to describe suppression of political dissidents.

An Urgent Cry from Hong Kong

身在日本膽粗粗錄左條英文片，沒咩準備、背稿，抱歉。我只係覺得今次，國際關注係好重要。”Hong Kong is not Hong Kong anymore, it is NAMED as Hong Kong only.”An Urgent Cry from Hong KongI am Agnes Chow, a member of Scholarism, a student activists organization from Hong Kong. I have an important message that I hope to spread to the world which is related to a bookseller who suddenly disappeared and had been abducted to Mainland.A Hong Kong bookseller named Lee Bo who sold books criticizing the Communist Party of China and banned political books suddenly went missing weeks after four of his associates disappeared strangely. The Causeway Bay Bookstore, the bookstore established by Lee in 1994, is popular among mainland tourists as they can buy political books which are banned in their hometown.On 30th December 2015, Lee was supposed to collect books from a warehouse at around 5:30pm. However, he was out of contact and could not be found even his wife arrived the warehouse, looking for him at 8:00pm. About 10:00, his wife received a call from her husband from Shenzhen. Lee used Mandarin unusually rather than Cantonese, and told his wife that he had temporarily gone back to cooperate with the investigation, ‘They want me to assist the investigation, if I cooperate, it may be alright.” Lee called his wife again soon to notice her that “you may already know what’s going on” and “don’t make the news public”.With the protection of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Hongkongers are able to obtain personal safety and basic human rights under rule of law. Even some of the Hongkongers acted as dissents to voice out their disagreement towards the Communist Party of China, they would not face penalties. Unlike the mainland China, Hong Kong did not adopt authoritarian governance. Citizens who sell politically sensitive books were not supposed to be suppressed by any threats of ‘disappearance’ and imprisonment with the existence of freedom of press and speech. In the past, we were safe because we lived in Hong Kong instead of the mainland China. However, the circumstances have changed with the abduction which was suspected to be done by the police in China towards this bookseller who kept being low profile before. Lee’s wife has reported her husband’s missing to the Hong Kong Police Force but still no one could contact Lee since 4 days before. With no departure record of Lee, and his Home Return Permit Card is left at his home in Hong Kong, it can be speculated that the police from the mainland organized cross-border arrest to threaten people in Hong Kong. If the above speculation is true, it indicates the erosion of “one country, two system” in the Basic Law of Hong Kong.The reason for me to film this video is to raise the global awareness of this serious issue happened in Hong Kong, and I hope that more and more foreign medias can keep their attention and coverage on this white terror incident. We feel that Hong Kong is not Hong Kong anymore, it is NAMED as Hong Kong only. The most worrying thing finally happened. This incident evoke me the famous statement written by Pastor Martin in the 1950s.“First they came for the activists, and I did not speak out. Because I was not an activist. Then they came for the journalists, and I did not speak out. Because I was not a journalist. Then they came for the bookseller, and I did not speak out. Because I was not a bookseller. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.”I hope everyone in the world who believes in universal values of freedom and human rights could stand up and speak for this incident to stop the political suppression.Even I am also afraid of my personal safety after this incident happened, I still believe we should continuously fight for freedom from fear because it is an important core value that we should uphold . Let us stand up to show our discontent on this abduction and stop the further suppression to political dissents in Hong Kong.

Posted by 周庭 Agnes Chow Ting on Saturday, 2 January 2016

Chow also quoted Martin Niemöller, a German pastor who opposed the Nazis:

“First they came for the activists, and I did not speak out because I was not an activist. Then they came for the journalists, and I did not speak out because I was not a journalist. Then they came for the bookseller, and I did not speak out because I was not a bookseller. Then they came for me and there was no-one left to speak for me.”

Talking to The Guardian, Chow said she filmed the video in English to raise global awareness of China’s increased interfering with Hong Kong. In the clip, she insisrs, “Hong Kong is not Hong Kong anymore, it is named as Hong Kong only.”

Lee, an investor in Mighty Current and majority shareholder of Causeway Bay Books, was reported missing by his wife last week when he failed to come home after making a book delivery.

Lee’s wife, Sophie Choi, said she received a call from Lee via a Shenzhen number, saying that he was assisting in an investigation, despite having left his travel documents at home. Lee supposedly conversed with his wife in Mandarin, a language that Choi said he “rarely used”.

Three of the missing booksellers were last seen late last year in Shenzhen. Owner of Mighty Current, Swedish national Gui Minhai, has been missing since October after going to Thailand on holiday.

Democratic lawmaker Albert Ho told press on Sunday that the booksellers could be in trouble because of a planned book about the former love life of Xi Jinping.

Chief Executive CY Leung said earlier today that there was “no indication” so far that China is involved with the bookseller’s disappearance, but claimed he is “highly concerned” about the case.

In rare comments defending Hong Kong’s autonomy against central government, Leung said mainland law enforcement in Hong Kong would be “unacceptable”, as it “breaches the Basic Law”.

Related articles:

CY Leung: ‘No indication’ China involved in case of missing booksellers

Missing Hong Kong bookseller ‘assisting in investigation’, says wife

Another Hong Kong bookseller goes missing, claims wife

Missing Hong Kong booksellers ‘working on book on Xi’s love life’

4 missing from Hong Kong publisher known for its scandalous books on Chinese officials