Taiwan Reports Passing of Former Hong Kong Bookseller Lam Wing-kee

Lam Wing-kee, a former bookseller from Hong Kong, passed away in Taiwan. The island’s official Central News Agency reported the event, citing an unnamed source. The 70-year-old Lam succumbed to a relapse of cancer after being admitted to MacKay Memorial Hospital in Taipei. He fell into a coma on Wednesday and died on Thursday evening.

Lam was well-known as a symbol of resistance against Beijing’s suppression of free speech. He lived in Hong Kong and operated Causeway Bay Books, a bookstore known for selling publications critical of Chinese leaders. Following his seizure by Chinese authorities in late 2015, Lam moved to Taipei in 2019 amid fears of legal repercussions.

In 2020, Lam reopened the bookstore under the same name in Taipei. Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te expressed condolences on Facebook. “The passing of Mr Lam Wing-kee is deeply saddening, but the courage he left behind would not fade,” Lai wrote. “Taiwan will remember that a Hong Kong bookstore worker once told us how precious freedom is and reminded us that democracy requires efforts from every generation to defend it.”

In 2015, Lam was among five individuals associated with Causeway Books who vanished. The bookstore offered publications that exposed alleged secrets and scandals of China’s leaders. One of the five, publisher Gui Minhai, disappeared in Thailand and subsequently received a 10-year prison sentence in China for allegedly providing intelligence overseas.

In a news conference in 2016, Lam revealed his ordeal. He claimed he was seized while crossing from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, China, in October 2015. He described enduring a 13-hour blindfolded train ride to Ningbo, where he spent five months under tight surveillance. Lam was allegedly forced to confess on Chinese television under duress.

In June, Lam informed the Central News Agency that he temporarily closed his Taipei bookstore due to health issues, uncertain of when it might reopen.

Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have increased control over Hong Kong since the 2019 mass anti-government protests. In June, Hong Kong police detained two individuals on suspicions of selling seditious materials and receiving foreign political funding, actions taken under the new national security law.