TAIPEI -- In 2015, Lam Wing-kee was managing Causeway Bay Books, a bookstore he had founded in Hong Kong that sold, alongside serious works, some gossipy titles prohibited by the Chinese authorities. That October, he and four associates were abducted by China's Central Case Examination Group, set up to prosecute those felt to be against the mainland's ruling Communist Party.
They were put into custody for months. Lam and his associates believed their abduction was linked to the intended publication of a book that disclosed the secretive personal relationships of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other sensitive material.
