China just arrested top Hong Kong pro-democracy figure Jimmy Lai

Hong Kong authorities on Monday arrested a leading pro-democracy media mogul, another sign that the sweeping national security law imposed by China last month was undermining the freedoms of the territory.

Jimmy Lai was arrested on Monday on charges of collaborating with foreign powers. Lai is the founder and owner of Next Digital, which publishes Apple Daily, a publication in Hong Kong that has supported the protests of pro-democracy. Lai herself has been outspoken in her support for the pro-democracy camp and was previously arrested for allegedly participating in an unauthorized pro-democracy protest.

Two of Lai’s sons were also arrested on Monday, together with Cheung Kim-hung, CEO of Next Digital. Agnes Chow, a high-profile leader in the Hong Kong Democratic Movement, was also arrested. In total Hong Kong authorities said at least 10 people, aged 23 to 72, were arrested on national security and other charges, including pleading guilty to foreign sanctions.

Lai is one of the most notable figures arrested under the new national security law that went into effect July 1st. The law gives China broad powers to dissipate, including unspecified crimes of “secession, subversion, organization and perpetration of terrorist activities, and collusion with a foreign country or with external elements.” It also carries heavy fines, including the potential for life imprisonment.

Capturing Lai has cool implications for press freedom in Hong Kong. More than 200 police raided the office of Apple Daily, an operation that lasted nine hours, according to the South China Morning Post.

Apple Daily reporters livestreamed the robbery, showing police officers rummaging through papers across reporters’ offices. Chinese authorities brought Lai to the offices during the robbery, escorting him through the offices when police searched. According to the Washington Post, authorities seized 25 boxes of valuable material.

In a thread on Twitter, Apple Daily placed police accused of ignoring the terms of the search and being rifled by news material, as well as restricting press members from reporting and operating a news organization. ‘

“Beijing’s National Security Act for Hong Kong claims to guarantee the freedom of speech, of the press and of publication of residents, but the actions of the authorities have proven otherwise,” the statement went through. “The raid of a news agency is a harsh attack on press freedom and should not be tolerated in a civilized society.”

Apple Daily described Hong Kong’s press freedom as “Hang on to thread,” although it promises to fight.

“The arrest of Jimmy Lai and Agnes Chow (one of the student activist leaders) is the biggest incitement to date to violations of freedom of speech and press in Hong Kong,” said Lynette H. Ong, an associate professor of political science at the University. of Toronto told me in an email.

“It will have a very cool effect on the Hong Kong community,” Ong added, “which is exactly what Beijing is trying to achieve with the [national security law]. ”

China’s collapse under national security law has been “unusually fast and unusually slow”

When Britain ceded Hong Kong to China in 1997, it was with the promise that Beijing would honor Hong Kong’s quasi-independence until at least 2047, under the regime known as “one country, two systems.”

China, however, had been chipping and chipping at Hong Kong’s freedoms for years. Now, national security law has rapidly and dramatically accelerated the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy. When it went into effect in July, Victoria Tin-bor Hui, a professor of political science at Notre Dame University, called for the complete and total control of Hong Kong and total destruction of the Hong Kong system. ‘

The National Security Act now means that everything happens in the open, which is aimed at what the Chinese Communist Party sees as the opposition – and sending a very clear message to anyone else who might be able to support them.

Samuel Chu, a US-based activist and executive director of the Hong Kong Democracy Council, told me that this is part of China’s rigid drum to crack down on activists, both at home and abroad. Chu himself is facing arrest under the new national security law. (The law is so extensive that even foreigners like those who speak out can potentially be arrested if they ever return to Hong Kong or mainland China.)

Protesters who allegedly advocated for Hong Kong independence were arrested on the first day the law went into effect; Since then, student activists – who were between 16 and 21 – have been accused of participating in secessionist activities.

The Hong Kong government has also postponed the September Legislative Council elections, and although officials have blamed the coronavirus, the government has already taken steps to run pro-democracy lawmakers. The Chinese government has also issued arrests for Hong Kongers who have left the city, including Chu, a U.S. citizen, and Nathan Law, another prominent activist and former lawmaker.

The arrest of Lai and others is the latest example of China’s crackdown. “I have no doubt that this is all orchestrated as a way to demonstrate the complete control they want in Hong Kong,” Chu said. “They state systematically, we will not tolerate dissent from anywhere, from anyone.”

Chinese state media had Lai as a leading advocate of pro-democracy, and both he and activists like Chow had previously been targeted for their views. In May, Lai wrote an op-ed in the New York Times when China unveiled its plan to implement this new national security law. “I always thought that one day I could be sent to prison for my publications or for my call for democracy in Hong Kong,” he said.

Allen Carlson, an associate professor at Cornell University, said it said a Chinese word, “kill the chicken to scare the monkey.” In other words, Beijing punishes a few high-profile individuals to set an example for everyone else. “The detention of Jimmy Lai and Agnes Chow are good examples of this idiom that is coming into place,” Carlson said, adding that it “could have a cooling effect on Hong Kong society.”

Experts, activists and Hong Kongers fear just that. In addition to the hardcore protesters and activists, supporters of the pro-democracy movement may think twice about whether they will continue this publicly now that their families and their livelihoods are up to date. Activists and journalists have previously removed social media posts, essentially censoring themselves. The arrest of Lai and others is the way China is saying, in principle, we are not hiding.

Ong said these high-profile arrests could mean “things could go either way: repression could slow down (because Beijing has successfully dispelled further controversy), or it could decide to ‘screw up’ further. to turn. ‘

Whether that happens may have as much to do with what is happening in Hong Kong as what is happening in the rest of the world. This critically includes the status of relations between the US and China, which are at a dangerously low point.

Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a professor at the University of California Irvine and author of Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink, described the blows to Hong Kong’s press freedoms and society as both “unusually fast and unusually slow.”

Within Hong Kong, the pace has been dizzying. But on the outside, these events happen somewhat piecemeal – arrest warrants for foreign activists a week, and cancel the legislative council elections a few days later, and now these mass arrests.

“There is dispersal from the repressive movements,” Wasserstrom said. On the one hand, the battle is on blow, he said. But when it comes to international attention – especially at the age of Covid-19 – China’s outbursts look a little more discreet instead of rapid control.

US-China tensions are the backdrop to all of this

Lai’s arrest also came after the United States imposed sanctions on 11 officials involved in the Democratic collapse in Hong Kong, including Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing Chief Executive Carrie Lam and the territory’s police officer. This was a serious escalation, and although Chinese officials mocked the fines, they retaliated by imposing sanctions on U.S. individuals, including some Republican lawmakers.

Also on Monday, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar visited Taiwan, the highest-ranking U.S. official visited since 1979. Although the attempt was demonstrable on Taiwan’s success in treating the coronavirus, such a trip is very provocative for Beijing, which wants to bring Taiwan back under its control and sees any recognition of it as a violation of it. ” one China “policy.

“I think both sides kind of deliberately stab the dragon and poke the nobility to see how far they can go – and also to support domestic references,” Carlson said. The Trump administration has blamed China for its handling of the coronavirus and is taking a tough-on-China approach in part to divert its own failures to deal with the pandemic. And Chinese President Xi Jinping is pushing to bring Hong Kong closer under its control, one of its core interests.

That leaves Hong Kong, just like Xinjiang, trapped in the middle of a superpower struggle as the freedoms of the territory are thwarted. “Overall, this fits badly for the future,” Carlson said. “We will probably see more arrests in Hong Kong, further crackdowns, and no one shot back – the US does, but not really in a credible way.”

---

Support Vox’s explanatory journalism

Every day at Vox, we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you and our audiences around the world with information that has the power to save lives. Our mission has never been more important than it is at the moment: to empower you through understanding. Vox’s work reaches more people than ever before, but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources – especially during a pandemic and an economic downturn. Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation, but it will enable our staff to provide free articles, videos and podcasts by providing the quality and volume that this moment requires. Consider making a contribution to Vox today.