香港警方調查出版人李波失蹤案

Hong Kong police are investigating the disappearance of a publisher who sold books critical of China’s top leaders, in a case that has sparked further protests about mainland interference in the affairs of the semi-autonomous territory.

香港警方正在調查一名出版人失蹤的案件，此人曾銷售批評中國最高領導層的圖書，此案已引發抗議，抗議針對的是中國內地干涉這個半自治的特別行政區的事務。

Lee Ka-chiu, a senior official in the government’s security bureau, said on Sunday that the police missing persons unit was trying to find out what happened to Lee Bo, who was last seen in Hong Kong on Wednesday, but that it had not yet reached any conclusions.

香港保安局(Security Bureau)副局長李家超(Lee Ka-chiu)週日表示，警方的失蹤人口調查組正在試圖查明李波(Lee Bo)的下落，後者上週三最後一次在香港露面，但警方尚未得出任何結論。

Four of his colleagues from the Mighty Current publishing company disappeared late last year while outside of Hong Kong, amid speculation that they had been taken for questioning by security forces in mainland China.

李波在巨流傳媒(Mighty Current)出版公司的四名同事去年末在香港境外相繼失蹤，當時有傳言稱，他們被中國內地安全部門帶走問話。

Activists say Mr Lee’s case is even more concerning because he went missing from Hong Kong, which has an independent, British-style legal system as part of the “one country, two systems” arrangement that was agreed with Beijing when the former colony was handed over in 1997.

活動人士表示，李波的案件甚至更加令人關切，因爲他是在香港失蹤的，而香港擁有一個英式的獨立司法體系，這是這個前殖民地1997年迴歸中國時達成的“一國兩制”安排的一部分。

On Sunday, the bookstore in Causeway Bay, which sits underneath a nail parlour and opposite a Burberry store in the heart of Hong Kong’s main shopping district, was closed.

週日，位於銅鑼灣(Causeway Bay)的這家書店沒有開門。該書店地處香港主要購物區的心臟地帶，樓上是一家美甲店，對面是一家博柏利(Burberry)專賣店。

Posters outside the shop promoted a range of their books, which would almost certainly be banned in authoritarian China because they cover a range of topics that are deemed highly sensitive, such as corruption and the personal lives of top leaders.

店外的一些海報推介一系列圖書，這些書在威權的中國內地幾乎肯定會遭禁，因爲它們涉及一些被視爲高度敏感的主題，比如腐敗以及最高領導人的私人生活。

Mr Lee’s wife told Hong Kong media that she last saw him on Wednesday and he later called from a mainland number to tell her he was “assisting in an investigation” and would be back soon.

李波的妻子告訴記者，她最後一次見到他是在上週三，之後他從一個內地電話號碼給她打電話，說他正在“協助調查”，很快會回來。

Albert Ho, an opposition lawmaker in Hong Kong, said on Sunday that he had “strong reason to believe Mr Lee Bo has probably been kidnapped and smuggled back to the mainland for political investigation” because of his role in publishing books that were critical of the Chinese government.

香港立法會的民主派議員何俊仁(Albert Ho)週日表示，他有“充分理由相信李波先生很可能已被綁架，並被偷偷帶回中國內地協助政治調查”，原因是他在出版批評中國政府的圖書方面扮演了角色。

It was not immediately possible to verify his claim.

記者無法立即覈實他的這一說法。

Mr Lee, the Hong Kong security official, said that the police had asked their mainland counterparts if the publisher had been detained and they were yet to hear back from them.

香港保安局的李家超表示，警方已詢問內地同行有沒有拘留這名出版人，但尚未得到迴音。

Although Chinese security forces regularly detain dissidents in the mainland without charging them or informing their families, they have no legal right to operate in Hong Kong.

儘管中國內地安全部門經常在不提出指控、也不通知家人的情況下扣留在內地的異見人士，但他們依法沒有在香港執行任務的權利。

However, democracy campaigners fear that the city’s autonomy and its British-style freedoms are being eroded, pointing to growing threats to freedom of the press and academic independence.

然而，民主派活動人士擔心，該市的自主性和英式自由正受到侵蝕，他們指出新聞自由和學術獨立面臨越來越大的威脅。

Lee Cheuk-yan, another opposition lawmaker, said the disappearance of the booksellers undermined Hongkongers’ sense of security and suggested that the one country, two systems arrangement had “been torn up”.

另一位民主派議員李卓人(Lee Cheuk-yan)表示，書店職員的失蹤破壞了港人的安全感，並且表明一國兩制安排已“被撕毀”。

“We’ve been living with a false sense of security and that’s very frightening,” he said.

“我們一直生活在安全的錯覺中，那是非常可怕的，”他說。