Magnate happy to die in jail if HK’s freedom is his legacy
Jimmy Lai is not afraid for himself but fears for Hong Kong, as the mood gets ‘worse and worse’.
Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai is not afraid of spending his final days in jail.
At 71, he presides over a publishing empire that has become increasingly critical of China’s hold over the special administrative region. He has grown used to what he calls the “intimidation effect”.
As Hong Kong descends into “panic” and “confusion”, the media magnate reflects on his legacy and says: “I will be happy, even if I am in jail. This place has been wonderful to me. I’m almost coming to the end of my life. If I have to suffer for this, I will treat it as a blessing. It will be wonderful for my kids to remember how their father has been.”
Lai is speaking to Inquirer from his office at Apple Daily in the industrial area of the New Territories. He’s back at his desk – on bail, and without being charged – after being arrested and questioned under strict new national security laws covering subversion, terrorism, collusion with foreign forces and the promotion of secession from China. All carry potential life jail terms.
That was on August 10, when the startling images of the magnate being led in handcuffs from his home were beamed around the world. Lai was taken to Apple Daily to watch as about 200 police raided the offices of the empire he launched in 1995. Two of his sons and two senior executives of his company were also arrested.
It was not a great surprise to the Chinese-born Lai, who has suffered arrest previously. He expected the authorities to come calling after the new laws were passed in June.
After all, Beijing had been angered by his visit to Washington in July last year when he met Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice-President Mike Pence; and Lai also has media interests in Taiwan. “It was not so frightening for me,” he says. “I thought it would come anyway, although I didn’t know it would come so early. But it has been frightening for the people in Hong Kong.
“The intimidation effect has been very great. The raid on our media company has also had an intimidating effect on other media to make sure that they themselves will lean on the China side.”
Lai’s story is remarkable. Born in Guangzhou in southern China, he has been in Hong Kong since he arrived by boat as a child stowaway at the age of 12. He worked in a clothes manufacturing sweat shop, before going out on his own to found the Giordano clothing empire. In 1995, he switched to media, founding the Apple Daily group. The following year he was granted British citizenship, just ahead of the July 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China.
His media empire has long been suspicious to Beijing because of its support of pro-democracy activism and he has been charged previously.
Earlier this month Hong Kong’s High Court found him not guilty of criminal intimidation, a charge that dates back to an incident in 2017 when he clashed with a reporter from the pro-China Oriental Daily News.
Lai also appeared in court this week over charges of participating in a banned vigil in Hong Kong marking the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on June 4, 1989.
Lai says the mood in the city is getting “worse and worse”. There is panic and confusion, and many people are migrating or at least planning their exit.
He tells Inquirer: “Some people are just waiting to see what will happen, particularly those who have a business here or a good job here. They don’t want to give up their job but they see the prospect of Hong Kong being a liveable place as very bleak. A lot of business people now are very nervous.”
The uncertainty has driven away investors and he fears for the impact on the economy as foreigners, afraid of falling foul of the harsh security laws, opt to leave Hong Kong.
“Foreigners who are used to freedom and the rule of law will feel more and more uncomfortable,” says Lai. “Even if they don’t want to leave, eventually they will have to leave because they can’t live in such a suffocating environment. They have a choice, to go back home or to be reassigned to another city.
“Making money is one thing but it’s not everything. Nobody will be willing to sacrifice their freedom and life and safety because they can make money here. And I don’t think, without the rule of law, the money they used to make will still be there.”
The economic fear is one element, but Lai says people are also coming to understand that the new security laws are far broader in their scope than they had initially expected.
“People were given to understand the National Security Law only focused on a small group of people who were radical or rebellious,” he says.
“So the rest of the people going about their daily life would not be affected. But now the common law is being killed because they want to cancel the separation of powers. This situation is getting very bad for people to stay.”
The demonstrations that engulfed Hong Kong for more than a year have stopped, with protesters frightened off at the possibility of being arrested: “We can’t demonstrate any more. People are scared. Only those very brave ones – very small groups of people – will demonstrate. But it means the groups are so small the police will arrest you. They recently arrested almost 300 people. There was a small group of people who went out and they arrested the lot of them.”
Lai says any future resistance “will have to take different forms”.
Like the rest of the world, he is closely watching the US presidential campaign, which he believes will be crucial to the future of China, Hong Kong and the region.
An unabashed supporter of Donald Trump’s policies toward China, he believes Beijing is more worried about having to deal with a Trump administration than one led by Democrat Joe Biden.
“If Trump is re-elected, his policy can be pushed consistently and will be a lot more effective,” Lai says. “Trump is the only president who plays hardball with China. He is somebody who doesn’t deal with you like a gentleman. He deals with you like a very tough guy. This is one thing that the Communist Party in China doesn’t want to see.”
But Lai does not think there will be clashes between China and the US in the South China Sea in the lead-up to the November 3 election because the Chinese will not want to take on the US Navy. Beijing will watch for the results of the election before deciding whether to clamp down even further on Hong Kong, he says.
“What they are doing has done enough damage to finish Hong Kong. They don’t need to do any more to get Hong Kong out of this planet.”
He says the US, which re-engaged with the Asian region following the “pivot” of the Obama administration, will remain engaged, irrespective of which party is in the White House, because “Asia is the biggest market for America in future; it’s the biggest political arena in the world in future. China is getting stronger and America’s presence in Asia will also increase”.
As for Australia, Lai argues that we must align closely with the US and other Five Eyes partners because “Australia alone will have no leverage against China”.
He says that while there has been some “dialling back” of China’s rhetoric about Hong Kong following international criticism of his arrest and the arrest of other former leaders of the demonstrations, he is not optimistic while President Xi Jinping remains in power.
“If Xi Jinping is there, I don’t see any chance of the situation reversing in Hong Kong,” he says. “Things can only get worse.”
And they could get worse for him personally. He is on bail, authorities are holding his passport and he could still be charged under the security laws.
“I don’t know when they are going to charge me,” he says. “Maybe they have to wait for the most appropriate time, the best political time to charge me.
“They’ll have to choose the right political situation to charge me. The law doesn’t mean anything now. It is all expedience and political concerns.”
