Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai arrested under new national security law

Jimmy Lai, the publisher of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy newspaper, has been detained on suspicion of foreign collusion.

Jimmy Lai is taken from his residence by law enforcement officials in Hong Kong on Monday. Picture: Bloomberg

In an inflammatory move by China, outspoken Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai was arrested on Monday under the city’s tough new security law .

Mr Lai, who owns Apple Daily — a tabloid critical of Beijing’s increasing control over Hong Kong — was among seven people arrested on suspicion of collusion with foreign forces, an offence brought in under the new laws.

The 72-year-old faces a jail sentence of between three years and life if found guilty.

The law was passed in May by China’s People’s Congress, a move that followed frustration in Beijing over an apparent lack of action by Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, in dealing with more than a year of protests.

Although Mr Lai’s media group has long been critical of China — arguing that Hong Kong should be able to retain its traditional freedoms of speech and its independent legal system — it was his visit to Washington DC last year to meet Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Vice-President Mike Pence that particularly angered Beijing.

China argues that the demonstrations in Hong Kong have been fuelled by foreign actors interfering with its affairs.

Monday’s arrests follow a joint statement by Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne and Australia’s Five Eyes allies condemning the postponement of elections for Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, originally scheduled for September.

Ms Lam recently announced plans to postpone the elections for a year, citing concerns over COVID-19.

Hong Kong police raid the offices of Apple Daily, a Hong Kong tabloid newspaper owned by Jimmy Lai. Picture: Twitter

The statement by the Five Eye countries expressed “deep concern” at the new laws, which they said were “eroding the Hong Kong people’s fundamental rights and liberties.”

“We support the legitimate expectations of the people of Hong Kong to elect Legislative Council representatives via genuinely free, fair, and credible elections,” it read.

The statement also urged Hong Kong to reinstate the eligibility of several candidates who had been disqualified from standing. That move, they said, “undermined the democratic process … fundamental to Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity”.

Mr Lai’s arrest for allegedly colluding with foreign forces will put the US and other countries under pressure to respond.

A spokesman for Mr Lai, Mark Simon, said Mr Lai had been arrested at his home about 7am.

The arrest was followed by a raid on Apple Daily’s headquarters by some 200 Hong Kong police officers who searched the building, taking Mr Lai through his offices in handcuffs. Mr Lai’s two sons and several newspaper executives were also arrested.

The arrest is the latest in a series made under the city’s new laws, making it clear the government intends to use its new powers to arrest critics of China and pro-democracy supporters.

China’s Xinhua newsagency called Mr Lai “an instigator” of the “riots” that have taken place in Hong Kong in the past 18 months.

Chinese state media has previously called him one of the “Gang of Four” in Hong Kong conspiring against Beijing.

Mr Lai was arrested earlier this year and charged over several pro-democracy protests but the combination of his latest arrest and the high-profile raid on the Apple daily newsroom has sent a chill through Hong Kong’s media.

The New York Times in July said it would move part of its Hong Kong office, and one-third of its reporters in the city, to Seoul amid worries about the new laws.

Beijing passed the security law for Hong Kong after growing increasingly impatient with the lack of action by Ms Lam in cracking down on student demonstrations.

In an interview with AFP in June, Mr Lai described the new laws as the “death knell for Hong Kong.” Born in China, he went to Hong Kong at the age of 12, fleeing the communist regime and setting up the successful Giordano clothing empire.

He later sold the business, focusing on his increasingly outspoken media interests.

In an interview with The Australian at the Apple Daily’s offices in October, Mr Lai said the protesters were willing to die for their “dream” of universal suffrage, despite Chinese opposition: “I hope it won’t happen, but there is a spirit of martyrdom which is having an effect on people here and is reinforcing the determination of everyone in the movement.”