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| Philip Hammond |
The foreign secretary, Philip Hammond,
has said he is urgently seeking information from Beijing over the
suspected abduction of a UK citizen who is among five Hong Kong
booksellers to have disappeared in recent months.
Speaking on Tuesday at the start of a two-day visit to China, Hammond confirmed earlier reports that Lee Bo, 65, who vanished last Wednesday, is a British passport holder.
“These people have gone missing".
Mr Lee Bo, who is a British
passport holder, has gone missing – and we have urgently inquired both
of [the] Hong Kong
authorities and of the mainland Chinese authorities what, if anything,
they know of his whereabouts, he told a press conference in Beijing.
Asked whether he was concerned about claims that Chinese security
agents were behind Lee’s apparent abduction, Hammond replied: “I think,
if I may, you are speculating a little bit about what has happened.”
China
has so far refused to comment directly on the five disappearances. But
the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, speaking alongside Hammond,
appeared to confirm his government’s involvement in Lee’s disappearance
for the first time.
Asked about the missing bookseller’s situation, Wang said: “On the
specific case you mentioned … based on the basic law of Hong Kong and
China’s nationality law, the person in question is first and foremost a
Chinese citizen.
“It is not necessary for anyone to make groundless speculations.”
The disappearances since last October of the five booksellers who
specialised in salacious exposés of the Communist party elite has
outraged Hong Kong’s vibrant pro-democracy community.
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