UPDATE 1-Britain says missing Hong Kong bookseller "involuntarily removed" to China

(Adds Chinese Foreign Ministry, Hong Kong police comment)
By James Pomfret
HONG KONG, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Britain said on Friday a
missing Hong Kong seller of gossipy books on China's leaders had
likely been "involuntarily removed" to China from Hong Kong,
constituting a "serious breach" of a longstanding bilateral
treaty between the U.K. and China.
China's Foreign Ministry condemned the British report as
"gesticulation", although it made no direct mention of the
missing bookseller.
In a six-monthly report to parliament on the state of
freedoms in the former British colony, British Foreign Secretary
Philip Hammond wrote that Lee Bo, a British passport holder who
disappeared from Hong Kong in late December, was probably taken
to China against his will.
"Our current information indicates that Mr Lee was
involuntarily removed to the mainland without any due process
under Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region) law,"
Hammond wrote in a foreword.
It was the strongest indication so far by London that Lee,
who surfaced in China last month, was abducted, though Hammond
did not specify by whom, how, or give any further details.
"This constitutes a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint
Declaration on Hong Kong and undermines the principle of 'One
Country, Two Systems' which assures Hong Kong residents of the
protection of the Hong Kong legal system," Hammond added,
referring to the 1984 treaty that paved the way for Hong Kong's
1997 return to China.
Hong Kong police said in a statement: "Any suggestion that
'Mr Lee was involuntarily removed to the Mainland' remains
speculative".
In a short statement on its website that made no mention of
Lee, China's Foreign Ministry said the British report "made
thoughtless remarks and gesticulated" about Hong Kong matters
and that Beijing was "extremely dissatisfied".
Hong Kong's autonomy is fully respected, as part of China no
foreign country has the right to interfere, and Britain has no
responsibility towards Hong Kong, it added.
"We demand the British side speaks and acts cautiously and
stops interfering in Hong Kong's affairs."
Besides Lee, four of his bookselling associates have also
gone missing over the past few months including Gui Minhai, a
Swedish national who disappeared from the Thai seaside resort
town of Pattaya late last year and who last month made a tearful
confession on Chinese state television to a fatal drink-driving
incident over a decade ago.
Chinese authorities indicated last week that three of the
five Hong Kong booksellers who went missing were being
investigated for unspecified "illegal activities"
China's reluctance to provide information and its refusal to
allow British and Swedish envoys access to Lee and Gui - a
breach of international conventions - is fuelling a diplomatic
crisis, several senior diplomats told Reuters.
"The unexplained disappearance of five individuals
associated with a Hong Kong bookstore and publishing house has
raised questions in Hong Kong," Hammond said.
The case has raised concerns among Hong Kong's large number
of ethnic Chinese who carry foreign passports, and the apparent
inability of foreign governments to get access to them should
they get into trouble with China.
There are now around 3.7 million British passport holders in
the city of 7.2 million.
"We urge the authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing to take
the necessary steps to maintain confidence in the system and the
sanctity of the rights, freedoms and values it upholds," wrote
Hammond.