TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As the world condemns China and the Hong Kong court for finding Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai (黎智英) guilty of fraud, journalist and human rights activist Yang Sen-hong (楊憲宏) on Thursday (Oct. 27) wrote Taiwan should voice its support for Lai.
The verdict, issued on Tuesday (Oct. 25), generated a backlash across the globe, with some of the strongest criticism coming from the U.S., where both the State Department and Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued strongly-worded statements on the matter.
“The United States condemns the October 25 verdict against Hong Kong democracy advocate Jimmy Lai, founder of the Apple Daily newspaper, on spurious fraud charges,” wrote State Department Spokesperson Ned Price. “We remain deeply concerned about the deterioration in protection for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the systematic dismantling of Hong Kong’s autonomy under the National Security Law (NSL) … Though Lai’s fraud trial was not on NSL grounds, local authorities nonetheless imposed the NSL’s more restrictive legal procedures for this non-NSL case.”
He added, “We urge PRC authorities to restore respect for press freedom in Hong Kong, where a once-vibrant independent media environment has all but disappeared.”
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee called Lai’s trial and conviction “a sham” in a statement signed by 21 senators. It read, “The Chinese Communist Party is using bogus fraud charges to smear Mr. Lai’s reputation and justify an additional sham National Security Law (NSL) trial in December. We have not forgotten the plight of Hong Kongers, Mr. Lai, and the many other political prisoners in Hong Kong. The international community is closely watching Mr. Lai’s so-called ‘fraud’ conviction and future NSL trials.”
According to Yang’s article, published in Taiwan People News, following the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Congress, China Leader Xi Jinping (習近平) began to show his animosity towards the world. Hong Kong’s “wolf warrior” court responded to this by setting an example with Lai.
Yang wrote, “In the future, the U.S., European Union, U.K. will definitely list him as a ‘prisoner of conscience with top rescue priority.’” He added that ‘releasing Jimmy Lai’ will definitely be an item laid out during any negotiation with the CCP.
“The world is gathering in support.” Yang urged Taiwan to join its movement, writing the Legislative Yuan should officially add Lai to its list of “prisoners of conscience with top rescue priority” and pass it as a resolution to showcase Taiwan’s determination to advance democracy.
He wrote that opposition parties should also take this “critical moment” to declare their stance on the subject. “'Rescuing Jimmy Lai’ should be the fundamental morality in Taiwan’s political world,” he wrote.
