"Jin Zhong 金鐘, head of the Hong Kong publishing house Open, decided in early January to scrap plans to publish 'Xi Jinping’s Nightmare' by Yu Jie 余杰, a Chinese writer and democracy activist living in the US. 'Many booksellers are afraid of selling these kinds of books now,' Jin said in a phone interview Thursday.
"Yu has already written one highly critical book about Xi Jinping, 'Godfather of China Xi Jinping.' Several booksellers initially refused to publish the book, and the few who agreed faced heavy intimidation. One, Yiu Mantin 姚文田 [Cantonese pronunciation], was arrested during a visit to mainland China before its release. Chinese authorities accused him of smuggling industrial paint, and in May 2014, sentenced him to 10 years in prison. Jin agreed to publish the book after Yiu’s arrest; it was released in 2014.
"On Tuesday [Jan 12], Yu wrote an op-ed in the local newspaper Apple Daily claiming that several other Hong Kong booksellers had refused to publish 'Xi Jinping’s Nightmare,' and he now planned to publish it in Taiwan. He called the democratic island a 'last lighthouse of publishing freedom in ethnic Chinese society.'
"Since Lee Bo vanished, the mystery surrounding his disappearance, and his current treatment, have deepened. No mainland or Hong Kong authorities have confirmed that the booksellers were detained.
"Joseph Yu-shek Cheng 鄭宇碩 [born in Hong Kong; president a citizen of Australia], a retired professor of political science at the City University of Hong Kong, said Lee’s disappearance shows that China is willing to abrogate its promises of one country, two systems. 'It’s very scary' * * * 'I do believe the price [Chinese authorities will pay] is substantial,' he said. “Because in the long term, people will see that and say, how can I trust you? I mean people in Hong Kong are all asking that question, quietly.'
My comment:
(a) There is no need to read the rest of this LA Times report, which is mainly about the recent disappearances of five Hong Kong publishers and employees.
(b) In quotation 3, the op-ed at issue: