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Jimmy Lai’s national security trial took an absurd turn when Judge Esther Toh weighed in on a question of identity. Pressed on whether he had meant the CCP when referring to dictatorship, Lai said:

“The CCP is China, and that has nothing to do with us…Only the Chinese people can get rid of the CCP. We are Hong Kong people. We are Hong Kongers because of ‘One Country, Two Systems.’”

Judge Toh then said: “Is your skin yellow, Mr. Lai?”  

Lai stated: “Because my skin is yellow, I’m identified as Chinese?” 

Judge Toh insisted: “You are Chinese.” 

Lai responded: “No, I am a Hong Konger.” 

The verdict in the show trial is now not expected to be given until October, the High Court heard Monday in a separate proceeding relating to the winding up of his Apple Daily news outlet.   

Detailed trial updates are available here: Support Jimmy Lai. 

 Join the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation (CFHK) and the brave bountied Hong Kong women fighting against CCP tyranny – Chloe Cheung, Frances Hui, Anna Kwok, Carmen Lau, and Joey Siu – for an International Women’s Day online event: Hong Kong Women vs CCP Dictatorship, moderated by Washington Post journalist and “Among the Braves” co-author Shibani Mahtani.  

On Tuesday March 4 at 15:00 GMT, all five of the Hong Kong women living in the U.S. and UK – each threatened with HK$1 million ($128,000) bounties for their arrest and return to Hong Kong – will unite for the first time since the new round of  persecution notices were issued on Christmas Eve.  

Hong Kong

On Friday last week, former opposition lawmaker Albert Ho, who is 73 and battling cancer, indicated that he may change his plea to guilty in the subversion case brought against him, Lee Cheuk-yan, and Chow Hang-tung for their involvement in the group sponsoring Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen Square memorial vigil.  

Judge Alex Lee, the national security judge due to hear the case who is also sitting on Jimmy Lai’s trial, pushed back the start date for the trio’s trial from May to November. 

Former Hong Kong opposition lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting was sentenced to three years and one month in prison after being convicted of rioting in the 2019 Yuen Long mob attack. Lam was trying to aid those attacked by thugs and the CFHK condemns the verdict.  

The Free Press followed up our Lending Prestige to Persecution report with a reflective piece on the issue of foreign judges still serving on Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal.   

CFHK’s Alyssa Fong, who co-authored the report, said: “If I had seen any shred of evidence that [the foreign judges] were there to help, then I would say, ‘Yes, we need those voices who know about freedom of assembly and freedom of speech to stay in Hong Kong and to advocate for what we’ve always had…But they’re not doing that. They’re actively destroying it alongside the Hong Kong judges.” 

Hong Kong dropped a point in Freedom House’s annual “Freedom in the World” index, falling to a new low of 40 – down from 61 in 2017. (A lower rank indicates less freedom. China has a score of 9.)

New World Development announced an annual net loss in the six months to December of HK$6.8 billion ($872 million), underscoring how the mainland’s real estate crisis is spilling into Hong Kong’s property market amid jitters over a potential domino effect should a major developer default on loans. 

UK – Hong Kong

Exiled Hong Konger Tony Chung accused the CCP of spreading fear and incentivising Londoners to act on his HK$1 million bounty after it emerged that residents had received letters urging them to hand Chung over to the Chinese embassy. Similar letters targeting  Hong Kong Democracy Council activist Carmen Lau were also delivered.  

CFHK Foundation UK Director Mark Sabah asked the Daily Mail: “How many anonymous letters need to be sent before it becomes a concern to police and the government?” 

In a deep dive into the sorry saga behind the UK government’s attempts to ram through the proposed Chinese mega-embassy in London, the Sunday Times interviewed CFHK’s Chloe Cheung.  

“It will be a huge surveillance hub if it is built,” Cheung warned. “For us Hong Kongers with bounties, for those dissidents from Chia, Tibet, Uyghurs, or Taiwanese, we worry it will be used for more surveillance.” 

Joshua Reynolds MP told The Mail on Sunday that he wants HSBC executives to answer questions before the Business and Trade Committee, of which he is a member, regarding their refusal to pay out some £978 million of UK-based Hong Kongers’ pension savings.  

U.S. – Hong Kong

In line with CFHK’s Beneath the Harbor report on Hong Kong’s role as a hub for sanctions evasion, the U.S. government sanctioned six entities based in the PRC and Hong Kong involved in the procurement of key components by entities connected to Iran’s drone and ballistic missile programs.   

CFHK is calling for the U.S. government and other nations to implement further financial sanctions and to designate Hong Kong as a Primary Money Laundering Concern jurisdiction due to its role in sanctions evasion and illicit finance to Russia, Iran, North Korea.  

Senators Jim Risch and Jeanne Shaheen, chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a resolution condemning the PRC government for its destruction of Hong Kong’s autonomy through the 2020 National Security Law and the 2024 Article 23 Ordinance.    

Representatives of two leading Congressional bodies, the Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the U.S and China and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), sent a letter to the UK’s ambassador in Washington, Lord Mandelson, warning that the CCP will use the proposed mega-embassy facility in London to “intimidate and harass” dissidents in Britain.  

CFHK UK Director Mark Sabah told the Daily Mail: “It should be highly embarrassing that members of the U.S. Congress feel the need to express their own concerns about it by listing all the reasons why the British government should not be going ahead with this. It’s shameful that everyone can see this is a bad idea – except our own government.” 

Anitta Hipper, the lead spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy of the European Union,  expressed concern over the “further narrowing” of space for civil society in Hong Kong. 

Jimmy Lai Biography, ‘Troublemaker’ Updates

Index on Censorship’s Jemimah Steinfeld penned a vibrant “Troublemaker” review based on an interview with author Mark Clifford, who recalls writing a portrait of a “genuinely heroic person.”   

Writing for National Review, George Wiegel composed a stirring account of “The Troublemaker” full of insightful anecdotes about Jimmy Lai’s character and faith, as well as instances of “rodomontade” that show the CCP’s Hong Kong satraps in a suitably dim light.