By Christopher Harper
In a world seemingly bereft of heroes, it’s worth remembering that some heroes do exist and need our support.
Lai Chee-ying, better known in the West as Jimmy Lai, is a Hong Kong businessman and politician fighting for democracy for several decades.
Now, he sits in a Chinese prison accused of violating outrageous laws intended solely to suppress the democratic movement and freedom of speech in Hong Kong.
Born in Guangzhou in south China in 1947, Lai escaped at the age of 12 from the mainland to Hong Kong as a stowaway aboard a small ship. There, he spent his early years in a garment factory and rose to the position of factory manager. In 1975, Lai used his year-end bonus on Hong Kong stocks to raise cash and bought a bankrupt garment factory, where he began producing sweaters. He built Giordano into a company with more than 8,000 employees in 2,400 shops in 30 countries.
After the Tiananmen massacre in 1989, Lai turned his attention to politics, building a publishing empire to combat and criticize the Communist Party and its rulers. Lai created Next Digital, a Hong Kong media company, and the popular newspaper Apple Daily.
In 2006, Next Magazine ranked second in circulation in Hong Kong’s magazine market. Apple Daily became the No. 2 newspaper in Hong Kong. He expanded to Taiwan, and
in 2020, Lai launched an English version of Apple Daily. All of the publications were banned in mainland China.
Lai was arrested in 2020 on charges of violating the territory’s new national security law, an action which prompted widespread criticism. However, no trial has been set for these actions, which could end up in a life sentence. In three separate cases, he was sentenced to more than five years for various political offenses, including participation in political protests.
Lai is a devout Christian and a British citizen who met with top U.S. officials during the Trump administration. Yet the Vatican and the British and American governments have done little to get Lai out of jail.
A recent documentary, The Hong Konger, is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRkuv-fOV7k
In an interview, Lai says: “The younger generation and the older generation have never been so united…. If we just surrender, we will lose everything.” The documentary is also critical of the relationship between corporate investment and the lure to Western companies of Chinese markets.
Like Martin Luther King Jr., Lai decries violence and has disavowed some of his followers who engage in attacks on police.
It is both heartening and saddening that people like Jimmy Lai exist. It’s crucial that ordinary people and governments use whatever pressure possible to free him from his Chinese prison.
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