An Inter Press Service Feature

HONG KONG, Dic 16 (IPS) - Mr O, a Hong Kong resident, was seized by Chinese authorities in June. He did nothing wrong, but his son owes money to a company in China.

Mr O's family says it has been told his release will be secured on payment of the debt. He is still in detention without formal prosecution or trial.

Mr M, a Chinese-Australian and also Hong Kong resident was abducted in Macau and taken to Shenzhen in China after signing a paper in Portuguese that said he was leaving voluntarily. He can neither speak nor read Portuguese.

The Hong Kong government uses letters to protect the identities of its residents being held by authorities in China. But at the rate mainland police are detaining overseas Chinese, officials here say the alphabet may not be enough.

Hong Kong businessmen, China's biggest investors, used to say stories like those of Messrs O and M were part of the risks of doing business in the mainland, where they have rushed pellmell with other overseas Chinese in search of profits.

Says legislator Emily Lau: "The business line was very simple: don't make a fuss and hope it doesn't happen to you."

There have been reports of ruthless overseas businessmen exploiting Chinese workers, but many investors realise the different way China's legal system works. They are concerned that the price of doing business in China could be their freedom.

In the past, it was only Hong Kong residents with no other foreign nationality who became victims of arbitrary detention in China.

But these days, mainland authorities are detaining a growing number of overseas Chinese with foreign citizenship, most of the cases stemming from business disputes with local partners.

Legislator Huang Chen Ya has noted that abductions and detention of Hong Kong businessmen without formal charges were becoming more prevalent in southern China, where Hong Kong businessmen have been investing heavily.

The human rights group, Amnesty International, believes there are at least 20 cases of overseas Chinese businessmen detained in China. But other groups say the number may be several times that because many families prefer not to go public.

Many of Beijing's Hong Kong advisers and top businessmen with good contacts with the Chinese authorities have been approached by families of victims in recent months.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service