Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
Members of both major American political parties fumed on Wednesday after the Chinese Communist Party announced another conviction had been levied against Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy advocate and journalist, in Hong Kong.
Lai was previously convicted for opposing the Chinese government and is already in prison for allegedly violating the CCP’s National Security Law, an authoritative measure that has been used to torment Lai and his now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper as well as other pro-democracy advocates, including an elderly priest earlier this year.
“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),” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. “These include increased efforts to wield the NSL to suppress independent media, to silence dissenting views, and to stifle freedom of speech.”
Lai was convicted of defrauding a government-owned enterprise, which the government said occurred when Lai operated a consultancy firm at the Apple Daily. The State Department characterized the charges as “spurious.”
“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,” Price said. “These actions undermine the PRC’s obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which is a binding international agreement, to uphold Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy and protected rights and freedoms.”
The Biden administration received the backing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, inclusive of Republicans and Democrats.
“Jimmy Lai is a man of integrity and character – a strong advocate for press freedom and democracy, a man of faith, a devoted husband and father, and a hardworking entrepreneur,” a joint statement signed by 21 senators reads. “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.”
This is the latest chapter in an ongoing struggle over democracy in Hong Kong. The United States determined in 2020 that the Chinese government had, in violation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, stripped Hong Kong of the “high degree” of autonomy promised when Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997.