On Monday, a Hong Kong court convicted pro-democracy campaigner and media tycoon Jimmy Lai of sedition and collusion with foreign nations.
The 78-year-old faces charges under Hong Kong’s contentious national security law, established by Beijing in 2020 following extensive pro-democracy protests in 2019.
The court declared Lai as guilty of “conspiracy to collude with foreign nations or external entities to jeopardize national security.”
It further noted that Lai and his tabloid, Apple Daily, solicited a foreign nation or entity outside of China “to impose sanctions or blockades or partake in other hostile actions” towards Hong Kong or China.
The court’s extensive 850-page ruling described the businessman as having “nurtured resentment and hostility towards the PRC [People’s Republic of China] throughout much of his adult life.”
As one of the CCP’s harshest critics, Lai pleaded not guilty to two counts of colluding with foreign powers under the national security law, as well as a count of conspiring to publish seditious materials.
He has been detained since 2020, with his trial commencing in December 2023. The sentencing for Lai is anticipated to occur on Jan. 12.
Immediately after the verdict, Andrew Collier, a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, remarked that the ruling was “not very favorable” from the standpoint of foreign investors, stating that “individuals desire an independent judicial system that safeguards the rights of citizens and the financial sector.”
Collier stated the verdict regarding Lai was anticipated, but highlighted concerns surrounding investor confidence in Hong Kong.
Despite a rising number of IPOs expected in 2025, he noted, “if investors lack faith in the judicial system, illustrated by cases like Jimmy Lai’s, it poses a threat to the future of Hong Kong.”
Lai, who established the Asian clothing brand Giordano, the newspaper Apple Daily, and the digital media firm Next Digital, was mentioned by U.S. President Donald Trump during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea in October.
Trump urged Xi to free Lai during their discussion, as reported by Reuters.
The court expressed that Lai’s “sole motive” was to incite the downfall of the Chinese Communist Party, asserting that “even though the final cost involved jeopardizing the interests of the populace of the PRC and the HKSAR [Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China]. This was the ultimate goal behind the conspiracies and secessionist publications.”
Before the verdict was announced, veteran investor David Roche indicated that a more lenient stance might benefit Hong Kong’s business environment. “This, I believe, would foster an overwhelming impression and thus conviction among those in the financial sector that Hong Kong has reverted to its typical, business-driven, dynamic self.”
Lai obtained British citizenship prior to Hong Kong’s return to China in 1997.
The trial’s verdict marks the latest chapter in Hong Kong’s political landscape, which has seen a diminishing democratic opposition in one of Asia’s financial centers since the implementation of the national security law.
Under the alterations to Hong Kong’s electoral framework introduced in 2021, the number of directly elected representatives in the city’s legislature underwent significant reductions, with only “patriots” vetted by an election committee permitted to run for office.
Monday’s ruling follows the dissolution of Hong Kong’s last pro-democracy party on Sunday after 31 years, along with a “patriots-only” legislative election that recorded the second lowest voter turnout in the history of the region.
