Hong Kong police have confirmed that another of a group of five missing booksellers who sold works critical of Beijing is in mainland China, just a day after his colleague was paraded on Chinese state TV confessing to a 12-year-old drink-driving offence.
Lee Bo, a British citizen, vanished at the end of last year in Hong Kong, several months after his colleagues from Causeway Bay Books disappeared while overseas. Hong Kong police had been unable to locate him until now.
The disappearances have sparked fears that Chinese state security is extending its reach into Hong Kong, in breach of the “one country, two systems” arrangement that guarantees the former British colony autonomy from Beijing, an independent legal system and free speech.