Hong Kong tycoon and democracy activist Jimmy Lai (黎智英) yesterday said his arrest on Monday took him by surprise and that he has been overwhelmed by residents’ subsequent support despite the threat from China’s new National Security Law for Hong Kong.
“I didn’t expect an arrest as quick as this because I thought that China, with such a strong response from the international community, knew that the implementation of the national security law was a blunder,” he said in a live-streamed conversation hosted by his flagship Apple Daily in Hong Kong.
“I thought they would keep a low profile to make sure that the international community is comfortable with it, the investors, the businessmen — to tell the world that the national security law actually now has calmed everything down,” he said.
Photo: AFP
Lai said he was touched by Hong Kong residents who have supported freedom of the press by this week buying up both copies of the popular tabloid and shares of his media company, Next Digital Ltd (壹傳媒), which helped boost the stock price by as much as 1,100 percent.
“I was really overwhelmed by the emotion of the city — people were obviously very angry about my arrest and came out in different ways to support us,” he said. “The oxygen is getting thin and we are all choking.”
“But when we’re choking, we’re still taking care of each other, and keep resisting and keep fighting for our rule of law and freedom,” he added.
Lai’s arrest is the highest profile in Hong Kong under the new security legislation imposed by Beijing on June 30. It so far has been used to arrest 21 people.
About 200 police officers on Monday raided the headquarters of the Apple Daily.
Lai, Next Digital and several of its executives, the Apple Daily and other related companies yesterday afternoon filed writs in the Hong Kong High Court demanding the police return journalists’ materials, information with legal professional privilege and all other material not covered by the search warrant, Radio Television Hong Kong and the HK01 Web site reported.
Lai said the police who arrested him all seemed to be local officers and that, for the moment, he was not afraid of being spirited away to the mainland for a trial in courts controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
He said that could change if Beijing was convinced he had seriously endangered national security. However, he also made conciliatory remarks, arguing that the world should be friendly toward China.
He said the West’s confrontation with Beijing was a result of Chinese leaders pursuing an agenda that was in conflict with global norms, and the world would not have peace until China realized that and changed its behavior.
“The world doesn’t want to confront China because they’re so big — confrontation every time with China will have such a negative impact on the world,” Lai said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
UNWAVERING: Paraguay remains steadfast in its support of Taiwan, but is facing growing pressure at home and abroad to switch recognition to Beijing, Pena said Paraguayan President Santiago Pena has pledged to continue enhancing cooperation with Taiwan, as he and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait using force, Japanese media reported on Saturday. Kishida yesterday completed a trip to France, Brazil and Paraguay, his first visit to South America since taking office in 2021. After the Japanese leader and Pena spoke for more than an hour on Friday, exchanging views on the situation in East Asia in the face of China’s increasing military pressure on Taiwan, they affirmed that “unilateral attempts to change the