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Hong Kong bookseller disappearances
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US ambassador Keith Harper delivered the statement on behalf of the US, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK, expressing concern over the disappearance of bookseller Lee Po (right) and his associates. Photo: EPA and SCMP Pictures

China slams US drone strikes on ‘innocent civilians’ as United Nations showdown over missing booksellers escalates into slanging match

Joint statement delivered to UN Human Rights Council draws angry response from Chinese diplomat, who attacks America’s own human rights record

A Chinese diplomat lashed out at the United States, saying “its gun violence is rampant, racism is its deep-rooted malaise”, after the latter issued a joint statement with 11 other countries slamming China over the disappearances of five Hong Kong booksellers.

In a strongly worded statement delivered to the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva, US ambassador Keith Harper expressed concern about the “unexplained recent disappearances and apparent coerced returns of Chinese and foreign citizens from outside mainland China”, saying they called into question China’s commitment to its “one country, two systems” principle for Hong Kong.

The comments drew an angry response from Fu Cong, the Chinese deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva, who called the US out for conducting “large-scale extra-territorial eavesdropping” and using drones to “attack other countries’ innocent civilians”.

READ MORE: Lee Po signed over running of Causeway Books to mystery man before going missing with other Hong Kong booksellers

Referring to “recent reports of abductions”, the American ambassador said on Thursday: “These extraterritorial actions are unacceptable, out of step with the expectations of the international community, and a challenge to the rules-based international order. The actions involving individuals in Hong Kong represent a violation of the high degree of autonomy promised Hong Kong under its Basic Law.”

He also expressed concern about China’s “deteriorating human rights record”, pointing to the arrests and ongoing detention of rights activists, civil society leaders and lawyers. The ambassador delivered the statement on behalf of the US, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK.

The actions involving individuals in Hong Kong represent a violation of the high degree of autonomy promised Hong Kong under its Basic Law.
US ambassador Keith Harper

Since October last year, five associates from Mighty Current publishing house and Causeway Bay Books have gone missing one after one under strange circumstances. In October, Gui Minhai vanished in Pattaya, Thailand, while Lam Wing-kee, Lui Por and Cheung Chi-ping disappeared while on the mainland. Lee Po went missing in Hong Kong in December.

Their disappearances have led to fears that they were kidnapped by mainland agents, as the publishing house and bookstore specialised in books critical of the Chinese Communist Party.

Some of the booksellers later appeared on state television saying that they were not kidnapped and that they went to the mainland out of their own free will to assist in an investigation involving Gui. Gui has been accused of ordering his associates to deliver about 4,000 banned books from Hong Kong across the border since October 2014.

Soon after Lee went missing, he wrote a letter to his wife, Sophie Choi Ka-ping, stating that Gui was a “morally unacceptable person” who had a “complicated personal history”. That contradicted an email Lee wrote to Gui’s daughter after Gui disappeared but before Lee himself went missing. In the email, obtained by the Post, Lee said he feared Gui had been “taken by special agents from China for political reasons”.

READ MORE: Booksellers slipped back to mainland China after requesting Hong Kong police drop missing persons cases

In Geneva, Harper said the US and the 11 other countries are concerned about the increasing number of individuals whose confessions have been aired on state media prior to any indictment or judicial process.

“These actions run contrary to the fair trial guarantees enshrined in China’s laws and counter to rights and freedoms set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” he said.

The United States conducts large-scale extra-territorial eavesdropping, uses drones to attack other countries’ innocent civilians, its troops on foreign soil commit rape and murder of local people. It conducts kidnapping overseas and uses black prisons.
Chinese diplomat Fu Cong

“We are concerned about the overall negative trend for human rights in China and focus attention on recent detentions of lawyers and recent reports of abductions of Chinese and foreign citizens, as these actions cross a serious line and call into question China’s commitment to its ‘one country, two systems’ policy towards Hong Kong. Taken together these actions call into serious question China’s avowed commitment to the rule of law and the overall direction that China is taking,” he added.

Chinese diplomat Fu pulled no punches in his angry response.

“The US is notorious for prison abuse at Guantanamo prison, its gun violence is rampant, racism is its deep-rooted malaise,” Reuters quoted him as saying.

“The US conducts large-scale extra-territorial eavesdropping, uses drones to attack other countries’ innocent civilians, its troops on foreign soil commit rape and murder of local people. It conducts kidnapping overseas and uses black prisons,” Fu said.

The diplomat also criticised Japan’s support for the statement, pointing out that Japan had refused to take responsibility for conscripting 100,000 “comfort women” in Asian countries during the second world war.

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