The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote Dec. 15 that diplomatic efforts to secure the release of Hong Kong media tycoon and devout Catholic Jimmy Lai can seriously move forward following his conviction this week under Beijing’s national security law.
In the editorial, the board described Lai’s trial as a “show trial” and said the verdict clears the way for negotiations for his freedom among Chinese President Xi Jinping, U.S. President Donald Trump, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Lai, 78, has been held in solitary confinement since his 2020 arrest and is in declining health in detention, as CatholicVote previously reported.
The editors noted that the verdict, which is more than 850 pages, portrays Lai’s longtime advocacy for democracy as criminal conduct, adding that his “allegedly nefarious acts include writing an op-ed for this newspaper and knowing our editorial writers.”
“The truth is that in today’s Hong Kong a national-security violation is whatever the government says it is — same as in China,” they wrote.
The board later wrote that the Dec. 15 conviction “may be perverse good news in that Mr. Lai was never going to be released until the trial was over.”
“Dictatorships need to pretend that the innocent are guilty, and then broadcast the phony verdict to the public through their propaganda channels,” they continued. “Maybe now the attempts to free Mr. Lai, who is in ill health, will get serious.”
Lai, a British citizen and founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily, has drawn sustained international attention, including from Catholic leaders and press freedom advocates who have repeatedly called for his release.
The editors argued that his guilty verdict “was no surprise” and that “the real import of the verdict may be to clear the path to a diplomatic deal that would free” Lai from prison. They noted that Trump commented on Lai’s situation Dec. 15, saying that he has already requested Xi to consider releasing Lai.
“Thank you, sir,” the editors wrote.
Starmer, the editors noted, “could make clear to Mr. Xi that China-British relations can never be normal as long as Mr. Lai remains behind bars. He would also do well to thank Mr. Trump for raising Mr. Lai’s case to the Chinese, as diplomatic discussions continue behind the scenes.”
The editors urged Trump and Starmer to continue to advocate for Lai’s release, noting that the political leaders could make the argument to Xi that freeing Lai ahead of planned diplomatic engagements would both serve Beijing’s interests and alleviate humanitarian concerns about Lai’s health and detention.
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