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![\"GUI](\"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2016\/02\/GUI-Minhai-HK-1024x683.png\")
Placards showing missing bookseller Lee Bo (L) and his associate Gui Minhai (R) are seen left by members of the Civic party outside the China liaison office in Hong Kong on Jan. 19, 2016. Philippe Lopez\u2014AFP\/Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n
Chinese authorities have confirmed that they are holding all five men linked to a Hong Kong publishing house who went missing in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
The Hong Kong Police Force said in a statement Thursday that it had had received a response from the public security department in China\u2019s Guangdong province that said Lui Por, Cheung Chi Ping and Lam Wing Kee were under investigation, and that \u201ccriminal compulsory measures were imposed on them.\u201d The three were previously unaccounted for having gone missing during visits to mainland China.<\/p>\n
Read Next:<\/strong> Hong Kong\u2019s Existential Anxieties Continue to Mount in the Face of China\u2019s Encroachment<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n The three men \u201cwere suspected to be involved in a case relating to a person surnamed Gui, and were involved in illegal activities on the Mainland,\u201d the Hong Kong police statement said, referring to Gui Minhai, one of the two other booksellers already known to be held in China.<\/p>\n All five men are connected to publishing company Might Current Media, which produces books containing salacious allegations about the private lives of Communist Party leaders. Co-owner Gui went missing while staying at his home in Thailand, only to turn up last month on Chinese state TV giving an apparently scripted confession to an 11-year-old drunk driving incident. Gui\u2019s partner, Lee Bo, has confirmed that he is \u201cassisting\u201d an investigation in mainland China, where he has been visited by his wife. Lee went missing while in Hong Kong, sparking fears that the Chinese government was undermining the territory\u2019s semiautonomous status.<\/p>\n Read Next:<\/strong> Inside the Secretive and Fearful World of the Chinese Exile Community in Thailand<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Chinese state security also passed their Hong Kong counterparts a letter from Lee declining a request to meet with him. \u201cHe [Lee] would contact Police should he need to meet with Police,\u201d the statement said, adding that the handwriting in the letter had been authenticated by Lee\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n Hong Kong police also said they had asked the Chinese authorities for more information on Lui Por, Cheung Chi Ping and Lam Wing Kee\u2019s situation, \u201cand to pass on a message to Lee [Bo] that Police still wanted to meet with him as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Amnesty International called for the Chinese government to explain what charges the men face and disclose where they are being held.<\/p>\n \u201cThe latest official disclosures about the last three missing book publishers are anything but satisfactory,\u201d William Nee, China researcher for Amnesty International, said in a statement. \u201cThe Chinese authorities need to end their smoke and mirrors strategy and come clean with a full and proper explanation.\u201d<\/p>\n Source: http:\/\/time.com\/4208964\/china-hong-kong-booksellers\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Simon Lewis Updated: Feb. 5, 2016 4:02 A … Continue reading