Localist author Horace Chin Wan-kan says Hong Kong book publishers are already engaging in self-censorship.
This comes as searches of Hong Kong Public Libraries' online catalog for several books written by Chin, former Demosisto leader Joshua Wong Chi-fung and Civic Party lawmaker Tanya Chan Suk-chong showed that the publications are not available or "under review."
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department has said it is checking books to see if they comply with the new national security law, but it has not named any titles.
The libraries have stored 264 copies of Chin's Hong Kong City-State series and all of them are either listed as under review or in transit as of 6pm last night.
"The Communist Party has not officially reviewed and censored my books, yet Hong Kong publishers and printers have begun censoring Chin Wan's [Chin's pen name] work," Chin wrote on Facebook yesterday.
Chin joked that the Communist Party is being "restrained" for taking his books off the shelves and is indirectly protecting his books' purchase rights by preventing them from being borrowed for free.
"Yesterday, when I faced the most pressure, I remained humorous and said I might have a chance of sharing a Nobel prize with Joshua and Tanya," Chin said.
Wong wrote on Facebook that his books, which he wrote at age 16, do not make reference to any sovereign constitutional issues or any content related to international lobbying.
"This shows that white terror is permeating and the national security law is a tool to charge people through the usage of words," Wong said.
Civic Party lawmaker Chan wrote on Facebook that book censorship is expected under "one country, one system."
Pro-democratic district councillors, including the Southern District's Tiffany Yuen Ka-wai and Mong Kok East's Ben Lam Siu-pan, said the district councils of their constituencies should reject the leisure department's access to district funds if they refuse to put the books back on shelves.
National People's Congress Standing Committee member Tam Yiu-chung said yesterday it is not illegal to criticize the government in books, but it would be if the books promote the four types of crimes listed in the national security law enacted by Beijing for Hong Kong on June 30.
These are secession, subversion of state power, terrorist activities, and collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.
maisy.mok@singtaonewscorp.com
