Hong Kong bookstore owner Lam Wing-kee says his Causeway Bay Books will reopen in Taipei on Saturday according to schedule. That’s despite an attack on him Tuesday, in which he had red paint splashed on him. Lam says he believes China is behind the attack.
Lam has been living in Taiwan for about a year after fleeing Hong Kong due to the threat of Chinese persecution. In 2015, Lam was arrested after crossing Hong Kong’s border into the Chinese city of Shenzhen. He was released in 2016 after nearly eight months in detention, and he remains a wanted person for “selling books illegally.”
Lam Wing-kee’s Causeway Bay Books in Taipei should be getting ready for a grand opening this week. Instead, it’s been filled with police gathering evidence.
Lam owned the original Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong, a shop known for selling books banned in China. He fled China’s displeasure by coming to Taiwan and trying to start over here. While having breakfast at a Taipei coffee shop on Tuesday, Lam was splashed with red paint.
He wasn’t hurt. But he believes that China orchestrated the attack, and feels that even in exile, China is after him.
A day earlier, Lam received a letter from a lawyer, telling him that the name of his bookstore had already been registered. But Lam says that the idea that a trademark dispute was the reason for the attack is a fig leaf for the real motive. Lam has faced down threats before, and the 64-year-old is now vowing to take a stand again.