Hong Kong  - Hong Kong democracy champion Martin Lee Sunday welcomed news that the suspected mastermind and six accomplices behind a plot to shoot him and a publishing tycoon had been arrested.

Hong Kong resident Tung Nga-man and six other men linked to triad gangs have been arrested in southern China over the plot to shoot Lee and publisher Jimmy Lai, the Sunday Morning Post newspaper reported.

The seven are due to appear in a court in Shenzhen on Thursday, two weeks after hired gunman Huang Nanhua was jailed for 16 years in Hong Kong over the planned attack on Lee and Lai.

Another man, Ho Wai-kim, was also jailed for three years after being convicted of smuggling a gun and bullets into Hong Kong from Shenzhen as part of the plot in August last year.

Huang was said at his trial to have been hired by a mastermind in China to "teach someone a lesson" and targeted Democracy Party founder Lee and Lai as thorns in the side of the Beijing government.

Reacting to news of the latest arrests Sunday, 71-year-old Lee told government-run radio station RTHK Sunday he did not know the alleged mastermind.

"Whether this man is the real mastermind I know not ... I have absolutely no idea who this man is," he said.

"When the trial is concluded there will certainly be more evidence and we are likely to know more about this case."

The plot to shoot Lee and Lai emerged when gunman Huang, 50, was arrested in a routine police check as Lee was campaigning ahead of last September's legislature elections.

He was carrying a gun, five bullets, and photographs and personal details of Lee and Lai. He told police he had been hired to teach someone a lesson but did not name the mastermind.

When news of the alleged plot first became public in May, Lee remarked: "I have never feared death. It would be an honour to shed blood for democracy."

However, he said he did not believe the mainland government was behind the incident, saying Chinese officials were "more keen to use character assassination."

Jimmy Lai, who owns the Apple Daily newspaper, is a persistent critic of China and a supporter of pro-democracy movements in the communist-led country.

Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" arrangement allowing freedoms of press and free speech denied to people in the rest of China.  (dpa)