Causeway Bay Books to close 'temporarily' as owner faces health issues

Taipei, June 9 (CNA) Lam Wing-kee (林榮基), 70, owner of Taipei's Causeway Bay Books, said Tuesday that he has temporarily closed the bookstore due to health concerns, with no clear timeline for its reopening.

Lam told CNA that he could not specify when the bookstore might reopen, adding that whether it resumes operations at all will depend on his health.

Causeway Bay Books originated in Hong Kong. In 2015, several of its staff members, including Lam, were taken into custody in mainland China over allegations that his bookstore sold books critical of the Chinese Communist Party. The bookstore was closed in 2016.

The detention of the booksellers had fueled fears that Beijing was encroaching on the freedoms Hong Kongers were promised under the "One Country Two Systems" policy with which the former British colony was supposed to be governed after its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

After relocating to Taiwan in 2019, Lam reopened Causeway Bay Books in Taipei's Zhongshan District before relocating to Zhongzheng District in 2024.

At the time, Lam said that health and freedom are the most important things in life, adding that as long as he stands on free soil, he can rebuild his life.

He did not disclose what his health problems were.