“There’s always a price to pay. I’ve struggled [for democracy] through the years, “he said, adding that he would continue this, because” without freedom you have nothing left. “
Lai is revered by many as a standard bearer of the Hong Kong Democratic Movement. But others have long accused him of an agent for the United States, because of his strong ties with Washington.
Despite that criticism, Lai said he believed he would get a fair trial because the Communist Party of China (CCP) is trying to trust the international business community that Hong Kong’s cherished rule will be established. He called his case a litmus test before the law.
Speaking to CNN at his home in Kowloon on Friday, the Septuagenarian dismissed the charges against him as “not very serious,” adding that the evidence presented by officials during his 40 hours in custody included television interviews with international media, including he asked China to be sanctioned.
Under national security law, this could be interpreted as collusion with a foreign force.
Lai has lobbied for the United States to take a tougher line on China, but said he has not done so personally since the law passed on July 1, only on television. He also said he did not support the Hong Kong independence movement, although he did support the freedom of the people to call for it, and for many years denied rumors that he used money from the United States to undermine China.
Violation of colonization with foreign powers carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Lai said that although he hoped he would not spend the rest of his life in prison, he accepted that prison time was a possibility.
When the National Security Act was passed, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said it would only target “a very small minority of offenders, while living and owning property, as well as various legitimate fundamental rights and freedoms that the overwhelming majority of” the citizens are enjoyed, are protected. ”
A spokesman for China’s Hungarian and Hungarian Business Bureau, which is controlled by the country’s State Council, said Monday it “strongly supports” the arrests of Jimmy Lai and others who were arrested. “People who collide with foreign troops to endanger national security should be severely punished under the law,” the representative said in a statement.
“Hong Kong will have no stability if this danger is not removed.”
The arrest
When police arrived at his multimillion-dollar home Monday morning, Lai said he was relieved to see they were Hong Kong police. The national security law allows certain cases to be tried across the border on mainland China, although these circumstances are not clearly defined.
Police took letters from his home and his wife’s computer, Lai said, adding that he did not use a computer, only a cell phone. After being arrested, he was escorted to the Apple Daily newsroom and his hunt to help with searches. He says he kept quiet during his videotape interview.
According to Apple Daily, Lai was released on bail equal to roughly $ 64,500.
While sleeping on the floor of a holding cell, the multi-millionaire who made his first fortune with fast-fashion giant Giordano, and which Forbes reported in 2008 was worth $ 1.2 billion, said that he had the question of whether he would have followed the same path or not if he knew it would result in imprisonment.
“I thought, ‘Yes, I will. Because this is my character. Character is destiny,'” he said.
A role in the protests
The Apple Daily took an active role not only in reporting protests from last summer’s pro-democracy movement, but in supporting them. The tabloid ran up front pages asking citizens to go out and march and gave away posters to increase during demonstrations.
As these protests intensified, with the storming of the city’s legislative headquarters, the siege of a university, and the closure of the city’s airport, the call for Hong Kong independence from the mainland grew. China out.
But Lai is adamant that he has never associated with the independence movement in Hong Kong, or called for violent means to achieve democracy.
“I want people to have the right to abide by the rule of law and the freedom of speech we have,” he said. “Violence is a game we had no right to play. We can never be more violent than the CCP who have guns and tanks.”
Lai’s closeness to right-wing politicians in the United States – he met with Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and then National Security Adviser John Bolton in July last year – has been used by Chinese state media to paint the protest movement, along with Apple Daily and similar media, such as US-controlled.
The People’s Daily – the official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party – claimed last year that Lai was part of a quartet of “secret middlemen and modern betrayals,” because Beijing was trying to blame the unrest in Hong Kong on foreign troops.
Some reports have suggested that Lai has at least, in part, been bankrolled by the United States and that he has supported Protestants in Hong Kong with money purchased through his Western political connections. Lai denied such allegations, saying, “I never did [used] money financed to undermine the country. “
“Maybe that’s a prosecutor they have against me,” he said. “But there is no evidence that I support the Hong Kong independence movement because I am against it.”
When the Hong Kong government last year tried to introduce a law that would allow extradition in China for certain crimes, millions of people took to the streets to protest. But since the national security law came into force, there have been no mass marches against the broad legislation.
“I think the resistance movement needs to continue,” Lai said. “[But] it has to go on in a very different way. We can not have more than two million people on the streets. We will need to be more flexible, cautious and innovative, or even atomize the whole movement. But I think a lot of people will continue to resist.
“This is a time that is not just a movement – it is a fight for the rule of law, for freedom,” he added. “It’s a time to get ready for sacrifice.”
Lai has a British passport. Before being placed under a travel ban, he could have rather left Hong Kong than stay put. But he said he would not leave the city where he fled China ten years ago, and fell in love with his freedoms – and which allowed him to flourish as a businessman, media tycoon, and democracy activist.
“I can not leave. I can not return,” he said. “Because the business goes on and the fight has to go on.”
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