A Hong Kong bookseller who had been detained by Chinese authorities after selling books critical of the country’s Communist Party has died in Taiwan.
Taiwanese media reported that Lam Wing-kee, former manager of Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong, died of cancer at a hospital in Taipei on Thursday. He was 70.
Lam spent months in Chinese custody from late 2015 and had to close his bookshop in Hong Kong. He reopened the shop in Taiwan in 2020 after settling there.
Lam’s shop attracted people who fled Hong Kong for Taiwan amid fears of growing Chinese control in Hong Kong. Former Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen also visited.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te expressed condolences over Lam’s death in a social media post. Noting that the courage Lam demonstrated will never disappear, he wrote that Taiwan is determined to continue protecting democracy, freedom and human rights.