A Hong Kong lawmaker said Sunday he believes Chinese security officers kidnapped five publishing company employees who have gone missing in the city, possibly because of a planned book about the former love life of President Xi Jinping.
The five work for a publishing house known for producing books critical of the Chinese government.
The disappearances add to growing unease that freedoms in the semi-autonomous Chinese city are being eroded.
Under Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, it enjoys freedom of speech and Chinese law enforcers have no right to operate in the city.
It is unclear where the men are or how they went missing.
– From the AFP article: Missing Hong Kong Booksellers “Working on Book on Xi’s Love Life”
For several years now, I’ve periodically observed that China’s increasingly aggressive crackdown on dissent serves as a harbinger of far more difficult times ahead. The thinking goes that if anyone is privy to the severe fragility of the country’s economic situation, it would be Chinese leadership. As such, desperate moves by Chinese leadership should foretell drastically worse economic and social conditions.
As an example, here’s an excerpt from this summer’s post, Chinese Authorities Arrest Over 100 Human Rights Activists and Lawyers in Desperate Crackdown on Dissent:
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