Hong Kong bookseller Lee Bo says he will abandon UK residency

One of the five booksellers who went missing from Hong Kong has said he will give up his right to live in the UK. In a televised interview, his first public appearance since going missing, Lee Bo denied he had been abducted by Chinese officials.

Mr Lee smiled often during an interview broadcast on 29 February on Chinese TV

Mr Lee is one of five men linked to a Hong Kong publishers who disappeared late last year - the publishing house sold books critical of China's leaders. His supporters believe the TV interview was done under duress.

The BBC's Juliana Liu in Hong Kong says political activists who have been advocating for Mr Lee's return to Hong Kong believe his apparent confession is laughable. Public confessions have long been a part of China's criminal law, but experts say many confessions are forced.


The other booksellers also appeared on Chinese television on Sunday, saying they were detained for "illegal book trading". The case has sparked accusations of China violating Hong Kong judicial independence

'Mistaken judgment'

In his interview with mainland news outlets (in Chinese), Mr Lee, also known as Paul Lee, confirmed that he has a British passport, and that he had applied for the right of abode in the UK in the early 1990s.
But he said he had never lived in the UK "nor enjoyed the rights and privileges of a British citizen" since then.