<p>- A Hong Kong publisher previously detained by Chinese authorities reopened his bookstore in Taiwan on Saturday, defying what he called attempts linked to Beijing to intimidate him.</p>.<p>The opening of Lam Wing-kee's Causeway Bay Books came a year after he fled to the island when the Hong Kong government announced a now-scrapped proposal to allow extraditions to China.</p>.<p>The 64-year-old was one of five booksellers from Causeway Bay Books publishing salacious titles about China's leaders who vanished and then resurfaced in custody on the mainland in 2015.</p>.<p>He was allowed back to Hong Kong the next year on the condition that he picks up a computer hard drive that listed bookstore customers and returns.</p>.<p>Instead, he skipped bail and went public to tell an explosive story of how he was blindfolded by mainland police after crossing the border and interrogated for months.</p>.<p>"The reopening is very meaningful," Lam told reporters in the new store in Taipei.</p>.<p>"Causeway Bay Books was destroyed by China through violent means. The reopening proves Taiwan is a place with freedom and democracy and we still have the right to read books," he added.</p>.<p>On Tuesday, a man pelted red paint at Lam while he was at a cafe, just a day after he received a letter threatening legal action from a person who claimed to have already trademarked the bookstore's name.</p>.<p>Lam's attacker reportedly said his fundraising project for the bookstore "damaged" Taiwan's relations with China.</p>.<p>Police were also investigating a death threat left at a government agency's Facebook page against him.</p>.<p>Banners reading "Taiwan independence" and "Free Hong Kong, revolution now" decorated the wall of the small shop, which focuses on political titles and was opened with the help of a hugely successful crowd-funding campaign.</p>.<p>The chant "Free Hong Kong" became popular during the huge street protests in the city last year that were initially sparked by the extradition bill but later morphed into a cry for democracy.</p>.<p>Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, who is loathed by Beijing, sent a bouquet of flowers for the store opening with a note using a Chinese proverb about justice and fairness.</p>.<p>China still sees self-ruling democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to one day seize the island, by force if necessary.</p>.<p>Tsai's government has advertised Taiwan as a place that values liberties and democracy, encouraging media outlets and organisations that are kicked out of authoritarian China to set up shop there instead.</p>.<p>"I feel very proud of Taiwan's democratic system and of Taiwan valuing the rule of law and human rights," parliament speaker Yu Shyi-kun, who visited Lam's shop on Saturday, told reporters.</p>.<p>"I am here to congratulate him (Lam) for reopening his bookstore and to cheer him on," he added.</p>.<p>Lam raised around $200,000 -- half of the money pledged in less than a day -- via online crowd-funding last year to reopen the shop.</p>
<p>- A Hong Kong publisher previously detained by Chinese authorities reopened his bookstore in Taiwan on Saturday, defying what he called attempts linked to Beijing to intimidate him.</p>.<p>The opening of Lam Wing-kee's Causeway Bay Books came a year after he fled to the island when the Hong Kong government announced a now-scrapped proposal to allow extraditions to China.</p>.<p>The 64-year-old was one of five booksellers from Causeway Bay Books publishing salacious titles about China's leaders who vanished and then resurfaced in custody on the mainland in 2015.</p>.<p>He was allowed back to Hong Kong the next year on the condition that he picks up a computer hard drive that listed bookstore customers and returns.</p>.<p>Instead, he skipped bail and went public to tell an explosive story of how he was blindfolded by mainland police after crossing the border and interrogated for months.</p>.<p>"The reopening is very meaningful," Lam told reporters in the new store in Taipei.</p>.<p>"Causeway Bay Books was destroyed by China through violent means. The reopening proves Taiwan is a place with freedom and democracy and we still have the right to read books," he added.</p>.<p>On Tuesday, a man pelted red paint at Lam while he was at a cafe, just a day after he received a letter threatening legal action from a person who claimed to have already trademarked the bookstore's name.</p>.<p>Lam's attacker reportedly said his fundraising project for the bookstore "damaged" Taiwan's relations with China.</p>.<p>Police were also investigating a death threat left at a government agency's Facebook page against him.</p>.<p>Banners reading "Taiwan independence" and "Free Hong Kong, revolution now" decorated the wall of the small shop, which focuses on political titles and was opened with the help of a hugely successful crowd-funding campaign.</p>.<p>The chant "Free Hong Kong" became popular during the huge street protests in the city last year that were initially sparked by the extradition bill but later morphed into a cry for democracy.</p>.<p>Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, who is loathed by Beijing, sent a bouquet of flowers for the store opening with a note using a Chinese proverb about justice and fairness.</p>.<p>China still sees self-ruling democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to one day seize the island, by force if necessary.</p>.<p>Tsai's government has advertised Taiwan as a place that values liberties and democracy, encouraging media outlets and organisations that are kicked out of authoritarian China to set up shop there instead.</p>.<p>"I feel very proud of Taiwan's democratic system and of Taiwan valuing the rule of law and human rights," parliament speaker Yu Shyi-kun, who visited Lam's shop on Saturday, told reporters.</p>.<p>"I am here to congratulate him (Lam) for reopening his bookstore and to cheer him on," he added.</p>.<p>Lam raised around $200,000 -- half of the money pledged in less than a day -- via online crowd-funding last year to reopen the shop.</p>