TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s 20-year prison sentence is a move the Wall Street Journal says serves as a warning to Taiwan about life under Chinese Communist Party rule.
The editorial discussed Lai, founder of Hong Kong’s Next Digital group, who faced charges of sedition and colluding with foreign forces. Monday’s verdict not only concludes Lai’s 26-month trial but also marks the “end of the larger dream” that Hong Kong could maintain freedom under Chinese rule.
When the UK and China issued the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration outlining the conditions for Hong Kong’s handover, the territory’s future was already clouded by doubts over whether the Chinese Communist Party would uphold the rights needed for a free-market society. “Sad experience said no, and we expressed our doubts at the time,” the editorial board said.
More than 40 years ago, a Wall Street Journal editorial titled “Promises, Promises” warned that, “The essence of the declaration is that five million largely free people will soon have their futures determined by a totalitarian government not known for tolerance or stability.”
The editorial said, “Our fears have been realized,” as a 20-year sentence for the 78-year-old “might as well be a death sentence.” Six former senior executives of Apple Daily were also sentenced, receiving prison terms ranging from 6 years and 9 months to 10 years.
Lai is in poor health and has spent most of the past five years in solitary confinement, with sunlight barely reaching his cell through a single window. The Hong Kong government also refused to accept lawyers of his choosing and froze Apple Daily’s assets without a court order, forcing the newspaper to shut down.
The editorial noted this is not how Hong Kong operated under British rule, nor how an international trade and financial center should function. “But it is the way of Hong Kong under Chinese rule,” the authors said.
Regardless of the Hong Kong government’s explanations, residents know Beijing is the true authority. Crowds of Apple Daily readers lined up to observe Monday’s sentencing, believing Lai stood up for them and embodied the courage and principles needed for Hong Kong to enjoy freedom and prosperity, per the report.
Some had hoped Hong Kong’s judiciary could serve as a final bulwark against being swallowed by the Chinese system. However, that hope has now been dashed.
Jonathan Sumption, a former UK Supreme Court justice, resigned in June 2024 from Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal. In a Financial Times op-ed, he said Hong Kong’s rule of law is “profoundly compromised in any area about which the government feels strongly.”
The Wall Street Journal warned that unless action is taken, Lai, convicted under the national security law, may spend the rest of his life in prison. US President Donald Trump has raised Lai’s case with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and plans to visit Beijing in April.
The editorial suggested Beijing should ask itself whether imprisoning an elderly Lai, and generating constant negative press, truly serves China’s interests. Five US lawmakers recently nominated Lai for the Nobel Peace Prize, with the editorial stressing, “There’s no one more deserving.”
It concluded with a stark warning: “And Beijing’s message to Taiwan about what life would be like under rule by the Chinese Communist Party couldn’t be clearer.”
