Despite the paint-spray attack by pro-China thugs just days before the planned opening, brave bookseller Lam Wing-kee re-opened Causeway Bay Books in Taipei April 25, with lots of people, and media coverage.
Lam Wing-kee himself, red paint still visible in his hair, spoke movingly about standing up for freedom of reading, publishing, and speaking. He joked about his new hairstyle — and described Hong Kong as already under Communist Party rule and too dangerous for him to dwell in — after he himself, along with 4 bookstore colleagues in Hong Kong, was seized and forced to make ‘TV confessions’ and he himself later managed to flee and speak out about his treatment and about the original bookstore shuttered by China.
In Taipei, on the Big Day, there were flowers and a greeting from President Tsai Ing-wen as well as warm words from the Speaker of Taiwan’s Parliament (Legislative Yuan), among others.
Meanwhile, the three thugs who carried out the paint attack have been released on bail, apparently in Kaohsiung city where they fled and were apprehended the day after the attack. It’s not clear what they plead or what the next steps are in the proceedings against them. The story continues.
Meanwhile, while the three other bookstore staff members are silent and apparently strictly avoid the media (even though they may be in HK), Gui Minhai remains the only one in jail in China, with an atrocious ten-year sentence and a news blackout on his whereabouts and condition, and we are all very much worried about his health and his future. The demands for his freedom continue to be raised, both from his country, Sweden, and around the world.
Lots of media coverage on the bookstore re-opening, incl. in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
In English, see f.ex.
In Chinese see especially the coverage by Apple Daily HK and Apple Daily Taiwan, and other media such as on Youtube, f.ex.
and many many more.
Magnus Fiskesjö, nf42@cornell.edu