"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2016-12-15T11:27:59Z"
data-video-section="world"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/12/15/trump-china-whats-at-stake-sfc-orig.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="trump china whats at stake sfc orig"
data-first-publish-slug="trump china whats at stake sfc orig"
data-video-tags="asia,china,east asia,government and public administration,government bodies and offices,military,us federal government,white house,donald trump,political figures - us,business, economy and trade,economy and economic indicators,north korea,south china sea"
data-details="">
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2017-07-18T07:06:24Z"
data-video-section="business"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/cnnmoney/2017/07/18/china-floating-solar-farm-orig.cnn"
data-branding-key="innovative-cities"
data-video-slug="china floating solar farm orig"
data-first-publish-slug="china floating solar farm orig"
data-video-tags="asia,business and industry sectors,business, economy and trade,china,coal industry,coal mining,east asia,energy and utilities,environment and natural resources,environmentalism,football (american),mining and minerals,renewable energy,solar energy,sports and recreation"
data-details="">
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2016-11-22T02:14:42Z"
data-video-section="world"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/11/22/furture-of-us-china-military-relations-pkg-rivers.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="furture of us china military relations pkg rivers"
data-first-publish-slug="furture of us china military relations pkg rivers"
data-video-tags="2016 presidential election,asia,china,donald trump,east asia,elections and campaigns,government and public administration,government bodies and offices,military,political candidates,political figures - us,politics,us department of defense,us federal departments and agencies,us federal elections,us federal government,us presidential elections,white house,north america,united states"
data-details="">
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2016-11-21T11:19:57Z"
data-video-section="world"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/11/21/hong-kong-one-country-two-system-original-pkg.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="hong kong one country two system original pkg"
data-first-publish-slug="hong kong one country two system original pkg"
data-video-tags="asia,china,east asia,europe,hong kong,hong kong protests,northern europe,united kingdom"
data-details="">
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2016-11-22T08:34:48Z"
data-video-section="world"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/11/22/deadly-pileup-in-china-cnn-original.cctv"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="deadly pileup in china cnn original"
data-first-publish-slug="deadly pileup in china cnn original"
data-video-tags="asia,china,diseases and disorders,east asia,health and medical,wounds and injuries"
data-details="">
"
data-check-event-based-preview=""
data-is-vertical-video-embed="false"
data-network-id=""
data-publish-date="2016-11-16T19:01:33Z"
data-video-section="world"
data-canonical-url="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/11/16/kim-jong-un-fat-nickname-ban-china-sfc-orig.cnn"
data-branding-key=""
data-video-slug="kim jong un fat nickname ban china sfc orig"
data-first-publish-slug="kim jong un fat nickname ban china sfc orig"
data-video-tags="asia,china,east asia,kim jong un,north korea,political figures - intl"
data-details="">
Lam Wing-kee was kept in solitary confinement and contemplated suicide
He says his interrogators focused on two books about President Xi Jinping
Colleagues have challenged Lam's version of events, calling him dishonest
Hong KongCNN
—
It took three cigarettes for Hong Kong book seller Lam Wing-kee to make his bombshell decision to defy China and tell the story of his alleged abduction.
Lam returned to Hong Kong last week after going missing in October 2015 – four of his colleagues mysteriously disappeared around the same time – only to resurface months later in Chinese custody.
Authorities had allowed him to visit to Hong Kong on a one-day release and only on the condition he retrieve evidence and come back to China.
But they miscalculated.
“I was only going to smoke one (cigarette) but then I thought about it,” Lam told CNN in an interview.
“It wasn’t just about the bookstore. It was about Hong Kong. “
He was standing outside a convenience store in Kowloon Tong, not far from where trains depart every few minutes for the border with mainland China, with a hard disk containing customer names – what his alleged captors had asked for.
After smoking two more cigarettes, he decided not to board the train, but instead to go public with his explosive tale.
Lam said he’d been taken by “special forces” as he crossed the Lo Wu border checkpoint on October 24. He was blindfolded and handcuffed before being driven thousands of miles to a detention center in Ningbo, near Shanghai.
There, he was kept in solitary confinement for for five months and was so depressed he contemplated suicide.
“There were twelve people that were divided into two groups. And they took turns keeping an eye on me 24/7.
“Their prevention methods were very well thought out. Even if I wanted to take off my long pants, hang them up somewhere to commit suicide, I wouldn’t be able to do it.
He was later kept under house arrest.
Lam’s revelations have shaken up Hong Kong.
More than a thousand people took to the streets in weekend protests outraged that Hong Kongers could be taken against their will and detained for months without charge by Beijing authorities.
They’ve also prompted the Hong Kong government to make a public response.
The city is guaranteed special freedoms under a policy called one country, two systems but many think these freedoms are being eroded.
Five Hong Kong residents linked to controversial local publisher Mighty Current and Causeway Bay Books went missing in late 2015 only to reappear months later in Chinese custody. Lam Wing-Kee, top center, resurfaced in Hong Kong on June 16, 2016 after an 8-month absence, saying he had been abducted into the mainland.
Reuters/ thepaper.cn
Lee Bo is a major shareholder in Causeway Bay Books, which is owned by Mighty Current, and disappeared from Hong Kong at the end of the December. He is a British passport holder. In a television interview aired February 29, he said he had sneaked across the border to mainland China to help assist in an investigation. Lee returned home late March after a three-month absence, according to Hong Kong's government.
thepaper.cn
Gui Minhai, the owner of Hong Kong publisher Mighty Current, is a Swedish passport holder. He was last seen in Thailand on October 17, driving out of a condominium complex in the resort town of Pattaya, where he owns an apartment. Thai police told CNN they have no record of Gui leaving the country. Three months later, Gui appeared weeping on state television in China. He claimed he returned to the country of his birth to turn himself in to police for breaking parole after a drunk driving accident thirteen years ago. His daughter Angela Gui testified before the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China in May about the alleged abduction of her father from his home in Thailand. In her first broadcast interview on June 16, 2016, UK-based Angela told CNN that she has received some messages and phone calls from her father in which he said she should keep quiet about his plight, but she had chosen to speak out. "I just hope they know they've overstepped a boundary. What they need to do is to release my father."
Reuters
Lam Wing-Kee, manager of Causeway Bay Books, went missing in Octber last year while in China.A statement from the Hong Kong government on February 4 said Lam, along with colleagues Lui Por and Cheung Chi Ping, was under investigation and being held by police in Guangdong province. In an interview aired February 28, Lam, Lui, Cheung and Gui admitted to illegal book trading. Lam reappeared on June 16, 2016 in Hong Kong and claimed he had been kidnapped into mainland China by "special forces" at a press conference.
Reuters
Cheung Chi Ping is the business manager of Mighty Current. China's foreign ministry spokesperson said that Cheung and his colleagues "admitted their crimes while being interviewed on television." Hong Kong police said he returned to Hong Kong March 6, refused police assistance and declined to disclose any details.
Reuters
Lui Por is the general manager of Mighty Current. Like the others, he confessed to "illegal book trading" in the televised interview. It's not clear whether they were speaking under duress. Hong Kong police said Lui returned to Hong Kong March 4.
Reuters
Hong Kong's missing booksellers
Banned books
All five of the booksellers were involved with publisher Mighty Current and its shop Causeway Bay Books, which sold gossipy titles about China’s elite. Lam founded Causeway Bay books before selling it to Mighty Current and had stayed on as manager.
Lam said his interrogators focused on two books published by Mighty Current – both about Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Appearing on Chinese television February 29, the booksellers claimed to have voluntarily turned themselves in and confessed to illegally distributing books banned in mainland China.
“This confession had a director and a script. It was all provided by them,” Lam told CNN.
Three of the booksellers were allowed to return to Hong Kong in March, but Gui Minhai – who holds a Swedish passport – remains missing.
Lam’s colleagues and a girlfriend in China have challenged his account of his disappearance in interviews with pro-Beijing newspaper Sing Tao Daily.
Lui Por said there were “no forced convictions” or “scripted interviews” and described Lam as a “dishonest person.” Cheung Chi-ping said that he was trying to confuse the public.
A 37-year-old woman surnamed Hu, who claimed she was Lam’s girlfriend, described Lam as a liar.
“Using my own experience with the forced confession as an example, it’s not done with (the person’s) willing participation,” Lam told CNN.
Lam does admit he broke bail last week, during what was supposed to be a one-day release from house arrest.
C.Y. Leung, Hong Kong’s leader, vowed Monday to write to Beijing to express his concern over Lam’s case but Albert Ho, a pro-democracy lawmaker said this was not enough.
“This is utterly disappointing. What Hong Kong people need is not a letter,” he told CNN.
Beijing stands by its position that Lam is a Chinese citizen, who violated the law on the mainland.
But for now, this fugitive walks free in Hong Kong – just out of reach of the Chinese authorities.
CNN’s Yuli Yang and Shen Lu contributed to this report.
