M
edia owners do not necessarily tell the same story; it depends on the choices they make. After making his fortune in the garment industry, Jimmy Lai created in Hong Kong the raucous, sensationalist tabloid Apple Daily two years before the former British colony was handed back to China in 1997. Refusing to accept the silent disappearance of Hong Kong's democracy, Lai made his newspaper the mouthpiece of that resistance, following the rhythm of each new uprising sparked by Beijing's tightening grip, which ultimately strangled the paper.
In the end, Lai's choice led him to prison. At 78 years old, he has languished there since 2020, and his 20-year sentence for "collusion with foreign forces" and "seditious publication," which was handed down on Monday, February 9, amounts to a death sentence. That is the price he has paid for standing up to the Chinese juggernaut. Beijing has crushed the commitment it made in 1984 to preserve for half a century the "way of life" then prevailing in Hong Kong: freedom.
Former US Vice President Mike Pence reacted to Lai's sentencing by denouncing "a mockery of justice" that flouts "the rule of law" and calling for his release. In 2018, when Pence was invited by the conservative Washington think tank Hudson Institute, he had leveled fierce criticism at Beijing – in stark contrast to Donald Trump, who rarely finds fault with authoritarian regimes.
