Lam Wing-kee, a former Hong Kong bookseller known for his defiance against Beijing’s crackdown on speech freedom, passed away Thursday evening in Taipei, Taiwan, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency. He was 70 years old.
The agency did not disclose a cause of death but reported that Lam had experienced a cancer relapse last year. He was admitted to MacKay Memorial Hospital in Taipei on Tuesday, fell into a coma on Wednesday, and died the following evening.
Lam gained international attention after his 2015 disappearance, along with four others affiliated with Causeway Bay Books, the Hong Kong bookstore where they worked or had business ties. The shop was known for selling books banned in mainland China, including titles critical of Chinese leadership and revealing sensitive political information. Lam’s abduction highlighted Beijing’s expanding influence in Hong Kong and raised concerns about the erosion of the city’s previously protected freedoms under the “one country, two systems” framework.
In contrast to official Chinese accounts, Lam openly recounted how he was taken into custody in October 2015 after crossing from Hong Kong into Shenzhen, China. He described being blindfolded and subjected to a 13-hour train journey to Ningbo, where he was placed under constant surveillance for five months. During his detention, Lam was compelled to appear on Chinese television confessing to crimes. His public testimony in 2016 served as a rare and candid denouncement of Beijing’s treatment of dissidents.
Lam relocated to Taipei in 2019 amid concerns over legal risks stemming from tightened Chinese control over Hong Kong, reopening Causeway Bay Books there in 2020. Last month, he temporarily closed the bookstore due to declining health, with no indication of when it might reopen. A tribute by a Hong Kong visitor in the form of a white rose left at the store’s entrance was reported on Monday.
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te expressed condolences following Lam’s death, highlighting his courage and the lasting impact of his stand for freedom and democracy. “The courage he left behind would not fade,” Lai said in a statement, emphasizing the ongoing importance of protecting democratic values.
The fate of Lam’s fellow booksellers also underscored Beijing’s efforts to suppress dissent. Gui Minhai, a publisher and part-owner of Causeway Bay Books, disappeared from Thailand and was later sentenced to 10 years in a Chinese prison for allegedly providing intelligence overseas.
In recent years, authorities in Hong Kong, under national security legislation enacted in 2024, have continued to restrict freedoms, arresting individuals associated with bookstores accused of selling seditious materials and receiving foreign political funding. Lam’s death marks the passing of a prominent figure whose struggle illustrated the broader contest over freedom of expression in the region.