DPP legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) has said that the arrests of five Hong Kong book industry workers amounted to China “burning books,” as she condemned restrictions on publishing and reading freedoms in Hong Kong.

Wu made the comments at a news conference in Taipei on Monday, July 20, that was co-organized by DPP legislator Chen Pei-yu (陳培瑜) and attended by Taiwanese independent bookstore representatives, who voiced their concerns about China’s repression of the Hong Kong publishing industry.

On Wednesday, Hong Kong police searched two independent bookstores and arrested five people on suspicion of displaying and selling items with “seditious intention.” Taiwan President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) on Thursday voiced support for Hong Kong bookstores.

“What we are seeing China do is, in fact, burning books,” Wu said at the news conference on Monday.

“China once told everyone during reform and opening that it wanted ‘a hundred flowers to bloom,’ but now China allows only one voice: the red voice,” she said.

Wu said Hong Kong’s political freedoms had already been “completely stripped away” and warned that China wants to “export national security and red terror overseas.”

Wu also urged the public to support Taiwan’s cultural workers and publishing industry, warning that without bookstores, booksellers, and a supportive environment for writers, access to quality books and cultural content would suffer.