Causeway Bay Books Manager Lam Wing-kee (林榮基) passed away at the age of 70 on the evening of Thursday, June 2, at MacKay Memorial Hospital in Taipei, following a recurrence of cancer. Lam was an active participant in Hong Kong public life, standing firmly in support of democracy and freedom.

Causeway Bay Books was a bookstore in Hong Kong popular with Chinese tourists looking for political publications not available in China. In late 2015, Lam and other staff members went missing. A few months later, Guangdong provincial authorities revealed he had been detained in China. Lam was eventually allowed to return to Hong Kong, and relocated to Taiwan in 2019, where he reopened the iconic bookstore.

In a social media post on Thursday evening, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) extended condolences to Lam’s family, friends, and all those who care about freedom and democracy in Hong Kong. 

Lai noted that Lam’s life bore witness to the preciousness of freedom of speech, and that he had endured the fear and pain of authoritarian repression, yet refused to stay silent. He chose to reopen Causeway Bay Books in Taiwan, making it a place where Hong Kongers could gather, speak out, and support one another.

Lai said the courage Lam leaves behind will not disappear. Taiwan will remember the steadfast Hong Kong bookseller who showed Taiwanese people how precious freedom is and reminded them that democracy must be defended generation after generation.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council expressed deep sorrow over Lam’s passing and offered assistance to the family. It said Lam was held in prolonged detention by the Chinese Communist Party and subsequently chose to expose the CCP’s wrongdoings. He relocated to Taiwan before the implementation of Hong Kong’s National Security Law, where he revived Causeway Bay Books to once again serve as a symbol of freedom.