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Jimmy Lai was named person of the year by award-winning journalist Tina Brown. “When media outlets are rushing to name heroes of the year, let's not forget Apple Daily owner Jimmy Lai, who is facing life imprisonment thanks to the Chinese crackdown in Hong Kong simply for the crime of committing journalism,” Brown wrote on her Substack, adding that she was stunned to learn that there are now more political prisoners in Hong Kong than Russia. In fact, Hong Kong now has more recorded political prisoners than both Russia and Iran.
China Heritage Project, founded by renowned sinologist Geremie R. Barmé, echoed the Person of the Year accolade. In a brilliant essay, Barmé draws on the writings of journalist Chris Hedges and the Christian social ethicist Reinhold Niebuhr to suggest that Jimmy Lai, like the activists Liu Xiaobo and Xu Zhangrun, is possessed with “a sublime madness in the soul” that is necessary to “battle with malignant power and spiritual wickedness in high places.” The article also reproduces the prologue of “The Troublemaker,” CFHK Foundation President Mark Clifford’s new biography of Jimmy Lai:
History is littered with examples of single individuals posing earthshaking threats to totalitarian regimes. Oddly, it is precisely at those moments when dictatorships are wielding their most repressive power—when all others have receded into terrified silence—that these stubborn personalities prove most vexatious. As Xi’s grip on power tightens, and as China’s democracy movement reaches its lowest ebb in decades, Jimmy Lai refuses to yield. That is why the Chinese Communist Party fears him. His courage matters.
UK - Hong Kong
The CFHK Foundation commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Sino-British Joint Declaration with a social media campaign detailing Beijing’s betrayal of its commitments on a clause-by-clause basis.
Lord Alton of Liverpool marked the occasion by raising Jimmy Lai’s case in a House of Lords debate on government policy in response to China’s human rights abuses. “For a British national who has never held a Chinese passport, to be held in solitary confinement with no consular access, denied access to the sacraments, dragged out to court to respond to an entirely fabricated narrative is simply outrageous and it certainly makes a mockery of the Sino- British Joint Declaration,” he said.
Lord Chris Patten, who spent the final five years in his role as the last British Governor of Hong Kong negotiating the declaration's implementation, sets out in a Telegraph piece how the National Security Law (NSL) crushed Hong Kong’s promised freedoms. “Beijing treats the Sino-British Joint Declaration with open contempt, disparaging it as a ‘historical document,’” he writes, lamenting that the UK government’s prioritisation of “engagement” will only lead to more broken promises in future.
The fallout from the UK denying entry to the CCP spy and Prince Andrew handler Yang Tengbo continued, prompting Neil Coyle MP to ask in parliament whether a government audit of UK-China relations will include “an assessment of the number of CCP party operatives working in the UK, including through bodies such as the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO)?” Reuters reported that the long-mooted audit, which includes Hong Kong, will be significantly scaled back as the UK seeks stronger financial ties with the People’s Republic of China.
CFHK Foundation UK and EU Director Mark Sabah told NTD News that the CCP is exceptional on the international stage in terms of the scale of its influence operations, and the UK economy is unfortunately now strategically dependent on Beijing in a multitude of important areas.
Mark Sabah speaking to NTD News outside the Houses of Parliament in London. (NTD News)
Canada - Hong Kong
Frances Hui, CFHK Foundation Policy and Advocacy Coordinator, submitted written testimony to Canada’s parliament regarding her experience of transnational repression by the CCP on U.S. soil. Her remarks detail the role of HKETOs in spreading propaganda that whitewashes CCP atrocities in Hong Kong as well as their involvement in the surveillance of overseas dissidents. She concludes by offering nine recommendations, including that Canada leverage the Global Magnitsky Act and other sanctioning authorities to hold bad actors accountable for intimidating and threatening overseas Hong Kongers, revoke the diplomatic status of the HKETO in Toronto, and codify transnational repression in its criminal code. Her original testimony can be viewed here.
U.S. - Hong Kong
A senior U.S. Treasury official met with financial institutions in Hong Kong, including HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Bank of China (Hong Kong), to warn them against doing business with Russia, Nikkei Asia reported. CFHK Foundation research has highlighted Hong Kong’s increasing role as a hub for money laundering, sanctions evasion, and other illicit financial activities. Meanwhile, 33 U.S. private equity firms pledged not to invest in entities based in China and Hong Kong, amid heightened urgency in Washington about threats to national security.
The CFHK Foundation continued to push for the U.S. Congress to pass the HKETO Certification Act that passed the House of Representatives earlier in the year by a vote of 413-3. While it has been an arduous task to pass any legislation as this session of Congress comes to an end, we look forward to working with Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio to shut down the HKETOs in 2025. Senator Rubio is the lead author of the HKETO Certification Act and should have clear authority to shut down these offices with or without U.S. legislation if he secures Senate confirmation as Secretary of State.
A CFHK Foundation projection illuminates the HKETO building in Washington D.C. (CFHK Foundation)
Hong Kong
Hong Kong activist Wong Ji-yuet filed to appeal her convictions and sentences after the High Court in November handed her a prison term of four years and five months for "subversion" under the National Security Law. Wong, 27, was one of the Hong Kong 45 charged with offences relating to their participation in democratic primaries.
Jimmy Lai Updates
December 18 marked the one-year anniversary of Jimmy Lai’s National Security Law trial. During the proceedings, Lai confirmed that prior to his arrest he had told Apple Daily colleagues that “I would choose this path in the future, even if I have to sleep in prison.” Asked what he meant by “this path,” Lai said it referred to "the path of Apple Daily, and the path of the freedom movement.”
Lai explained that freedom of speech, a free system, rule of law, as well as freedom of religion and assembly were core Apple Daily values. “I think freedom of speech includes allowing someone to say something wrong,” he added.
In a program coinciding with the trial’s one-year anniversary, CFHK Foundation UK and EU Director Mark Sabah told Radio Taiwan International that the Hong Kong authorities fear Jimmy Lai because he is unafraid and will not plead guilty. “Jimmy Lai is a nightmare for them: Putin in Russia jailed Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alexei Navalny out of fear they would galvanise others,” Sabah said.
Jimmy Lai’s trial was adjourned Friday and will resume on January 6. Detailed trial updates are available here: Support Jimmy Lai
🔥 Flame of Freedom Blog
All Eyes on Prince Andrew and His CCP Handlers
This blog is authored by Stephen Vines, a journalist, author, and member of the Advisory Board of the CFHK Foundation.
“What is equally clear is that China is very good at bullying and that somehow the British government thinks the best response is to cower.”
Read more here.
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