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Beijing has condemned US legislators who expressed support for Jimmy Lai, a jailed pro-democracy media tycoon whose national security trial resumes in Hong Kong next week and who faces life imprisonment if convicted.
The Commissioner’s Office of China’s Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong said some US lawmakers in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken had “slandered the conditions of human rights and rule of law of Hong Kong.”
“[The US legislators] spoke eloquently for and threw their weight behind ‘anti-China disrupters such as Jimmy Lai’,” said the Chinese-language statement issued on Thursday, expressing opposition to the remarks.
“Anti-China disruptors like Jimmy Lai have crossed the legal red lines, challenging the constitutional order of Hong Kong and the bottom line of One Country, Two Systems, and severely endangering national sovereignty, security,” the statement said. “We strongly urged those anti-China US politicians to recognise the facts, respect China’s sovereignty and the rule of law in Hong Kong… and stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs.”
Leaders of the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) urged Blinken to issue a report on prison conditions in Hong Kong and take “additional diplomatic steps” to address reported instances of torture and mistreatment of political prisoners there.
In the letter sent to Blinken on Wednesday, the CECC’s leaders raised concerns about the health of 76-year-old Lai and his alleged detention in solitary confinement.
“The Hong Kong authorities’ attempt to prevent the outflow of information is deeply
troubling, especially for prisoners like Jimmy Lai and other prisoners with age-related
health concerns,” the letter read.
It continued: “Lai, for example, has been subjected to prolonged detention in solitary confinement for over three and a half years, including restricted access to sunlight, and has been denied independent medical care. Younger political prisoners also face acute risks that go unreported.”
The letter was signed by four leaders of the CECC, a bipartisan group of Representatives and Senators.
In response, the Chinese foreign ministry statement said the US politicians were interfering in the internal affairs of Hong Kong while turning a blind eye to their own country’s shortcomings.
‘Ahead of the US’
Citing a rule of law index compiled by the World Justice Project, the Chinese authorities said Hong Kong remains high in this year’s index and ahead of the US.
According to the 2024 index, Hong Kong ranked 23rd while the US ranked 26th, the same as the 2023 index. The UK ranked 15th while Hong Kong’s long-term rival Singapore was 16th.
Hong Kong’s place on the index has dropped significantly from 16th in 2022.
Lai’s detention since late 2020
Lai, who founded the now-closed pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, has been detained since December 2020. He is on trial under the Beijing-imposed national security law for allegedly taking part in a “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” and has also accused of conspiring to publish “seditious” material under a colonial-era law.
In December 2022, Lai was separately sentenced to five years and nine months in jail for fraud over violating the lease of Apple Daily’s headquarters. He is currently being held in Stanley Prison, a maximum-security facility, where he has reportedly spent time in solitary confinement.
Speaking on a podcast before the US presidential election that will return him to power, Donald Trump said he could help secure Lai’s freedom. When asked if he would speak to Chinese leader Xi Jinping about “getting Jimmy Lai out [of jail] and out of the country” if elected president, Trump said “100 per cent yes.” He added that it would be “so easy” to free him.
The national security trial, which began last December, was adjourned in July and will resume next Wednesday, when Lai is set to testify for the first time.
The 76-year-old Hongkonger, who is also a British national, could spend the rest of his life behind bars if convicted.
Earlier this week, Beijing condemned the UK for interfering in the case of Lai after the British foreign minister met his son in the UK. Sebastien Lai has been lobbying overseas to free his father.
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