The U.S. Department of State’s “One Media Hong Kong” founder, Jimmy Lai, is charged on Dec. 11 with “colluding with foreign countries or forces outside the country to endanger national security” and is scheduled to be arraigned in court on Dec. 12. In response, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a group of congressional senators and representatives have spoken out to express their concern. The U.S. government’s “freedom of expression” is an insult to freedom-loving people around the world,” Pence said. Pompeo also said, “Exposing the Chinese Communist dictatorship is the only ‘crime’ against Lai.”
Pence tweeted a photo taken during a meeting between the two during Lai’s visit to Washington, D.C., last year and tweeted, “Today’s charges against Lai are an insult to freedom-loving people around the world. Lai is a hero and I have always been inspired by his persistence in fighting for democracy and the rights that Hong Kong people deserve to be protected. Pence also added the hashtag “Free Jimmy Lai (#FreeJimmyLai) to his post.”
Pompeo tweeted that the “Hong Kong National Security Law is itself a travesty of justice.” “The only ‘crime’ Lai Chi-ying committed was that he told the truth and exposed the Chinese Communist dictatorship and its fear of freedom,” he said. He stressed that authorities should drop the charges against Li Zhiying and release him immediately. Pompeo is also known to have spoken out when Lai was arrested in August. He said at the time that he was extremely concerned about Lai’s arrest under the Hong Kong National Security Law and said, “This is further evidence that the Chinese Communist Party has stripped Hong Kong of its freedoms and eroded the rights of its people.”
In addition, a number of U.S. Senators and Representatives have also spoken out on the news that Lai Chi-ying has been added to the national security charges. Republican Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) tweeted, “Using the Hong Kong National Security Law to prosecute Lai Chi-ying, Next Media’s CFO and Lai Chi-ying’s son is an attempt to silence anyone who dares to speak the truth, stating outright that the charges must be dropped and those who undermine Hong Kong’s freedoms must be held accountable.” The U.S. Congress and the Administration’s China Committee (CECC) described Lai’s indictment as a complete abuse of the Hong Kong National Security Law, which must end political prosecutions.
In addition, Republican Senator Rick Scott sent a letter to Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Friday asking her to release Lai Chi-ying, former secretary-general of the defunct Hong Kong House of Representatives Wong Chi-fung, former chairman Lam Long-yin, member Chow Ting, and other Hong Kong citizens arrested for peaceful protests, saying they had committed no real crime but merely poked the Chinese leaders in the heart. He also criticized Carrie Lam for caving in to Beijing and making Hong Kong people suffer, leaving the Hong Kong economy in tatters, small businesses and international companies leaving, the Hong Kong government losing all the special treatment granted by the United States, and the people of Hong Kong living in fear.
Across the Atlantic, European Union foreign affairs and security policy spokesman Nabila Massrali said Friday that Lai Chi-ying’s prosecution was “yet another example of the state security laws suppressing civil society and pro-democracy voices in Hong Kong,” stressing that “fundamental freedoms must be respected and protected.
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