Free Friends Forum 40—J’ACCUSE Western Intellectuals Aka “Political Pilgrims” Exhibiting their Double Standards Moral Schizophrenia
You have NO Moral Integrity when you rightly and morally condemn the U.S. government’s Crimes Against Humanity then horribly and immorally aid and abet China’s CCP’s Crimes Against Humanity
THE WORLD'S TOP DISSIDENTS (IN 2025). MOST HAIL FROM THE WEST APPARENTLY. Thorsten J. Pattberg, PhD Mar 26, 2025 “Whistle-Blowers, Dissidents, and Exiles Fighting for Free Speech” By Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 26.03.2025 The long list of refugees, people who have fled their country and living abroad in voluntary exile.
NO, THORSTEN AND FRANS, APPARENTLY NOT.
MOST OF THE WORLD’S TOP (and bottom as the case may be) DISSIDENTS IN 2025 HAIL FROM THE EAST--CHINA & HONG KONG.
It seems you “Dissidents” suffer from the unfortunately ubiquitous mental illness of Double Standards Moral Schizophrenia afflicting so many Western intellectuals who rightly accuse the U.S. government criminals of Crimes Against Humanity while wrongly praising the Chinese dictatorship along with the former misleader of Canada, Justin Trudeau and intellectuals like Mao hagiographer Jeff J Brown(ose—excuse my rudeness which is warranted in his case as self-appointed hagiographer of Saint Mass Murderer Mao).
ADMIRING A “BASIC DICTATORSHIP”: Trudeau's bizarre praise of China
IT’S CONFIRMED: TYRANTS LOVE CHINA! . . . BUT WHY? James Corbett https://corbettreport.com/its-confirmed-tyrants-love-china-but-why/
MOST of these so-called “Dissidents” you two Western Political Pilgrims (see below by Paul Hollander) have nominated are NOT being imprisoned, tortured and murdered by their governments as FACTUALLY tens of thousands of Chinese genuine “dissidents”—political/religious prisoners—have been and continue to be imprisoned, tortured and murdered by the Chinese Communist Party, CCP (see below).
Your “Dissident” Jeff J Brown righteously winces at being shadow banned on YouTube and virtue signals his “suffering” of losing viewers. Yet you say nothing about these TENS OF THOUSANDS of Chinese political prisoners genuinely suffering physically and psychologically and horribly so, why is that? And worse you PRAISE the CCP for their proven Crimes Against Humanity! Your derangement syndrome is most accurately termed DOUBLE STANDARDS MORAL SCHIZOPHRENIA.
What would you “Dissidents” say face to face with Sophie Luo about the imprisonment and torture of her husband, human rights lawyer, Ding Jiaxi still continuing in China?
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER'S STORY: SOPHIE LUO FROM CHINA. ISHRGlobal, April 22, 2022. 3:12
Sophie Luo is a Chinese activist and human rights defender, and the wife of Ding Jiaxi, a prominent human rights activist and lawyer that has been detained by Chinese authorities since December 2019, including several months under 'Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location' (RSDL).
WHAT WOULD THE PEOPLE OF CANADA/AUSTRALIA/U.S. DO IF THERE WERE 1,928 JULIAN ASSANGE DISSIDENTS ARRESTED BY THEIR GOVERNMENT?
HONG KONG POLITICAL PRISONERS DATABASE https://www.hkdc.us/political-prisoner-database
MUSEUM OF CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY BY THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY (CCP) MAO TO XI Holding Ideologues Aiding and Abetting the CCP Morally Accountable https://responsiblyfree.substack.com/p/museum-of-crimes-against-humanity
Shame on you Frans Vandenbosch and Thorsten J Pattberg for posting your praise of the CCP!
I invite you Thorsten, Frans, and Brown to join our Free Friends Forum tonight, Saturday 9pm, April 19 or tomorrow Sunday, 9am, April 20 New Zealand time to discuss my claims for your Double Standards Moral Schizophrenia and defend your aiding and abetting the criminal CCP.
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POLITICAL PILGRIMS TOP # 8 FACTS Yourtly1 Nov 2, 2015. 1:04
POLITICAL PILGRIMS: TRAVELS OF WESTERN INTELLECTUALS TO THE SOVIET UNION, CHINA, AND CUBA, 1928-1978. By Paul Hollander, 1990 https://archive.org/details/politicalpilgrim0000holl
POLITICAL PILGRIMS: WESTERN INTELLECTUALS IN SEARCH OF THE GOOD SOCIETY 4th Edition, 1997
Why did so many distinguished Western Intellectuals―from G.B. Shaw to J.P. Sartre, and. closer to home, from Edmund Wilson to Susan Sontag― admire various communist systems, often in their most repressive historical phases? How could Stalin's Soviet Union, Mao's China, or Castro's Cuba appear at one time as both successful modernizing societies and the fulfillments of the boldest dreams of social justice? Why, at the same time, had these intellectuals so mercilessly judged and rejected their own Western, liberal cultures? What Impulses and beliefs prompted them to seek the realization of their ideals in distant, poorly known lands? How do their journeys fit into long-standing Western traditions of looking for new meaning In the non-Western world?
These are some of the questions Paul Hollander sought to answer In his massive study that covers much of our century. His success is attested by the fact that the phrase "political pilgrim" has become a part of intellectual discourse.
https://www.amazon.com/Political-Pilgrims-Western-Intellectuals-Society/dp/1560009543
PAUL HOLLANDER, "FROM BENITO MUSSOLINI TO HUGO CHAVEZ". BookTV, Sept 18, 2017. 1:19
Paul Hollander, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, talks about the admiration of political dictators by Western intellectuals.
HERE ARE A FEW OF THOSE REPORTING ON THE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF POLITICAL PRISONERS IN MAINLAND CHINA/HONG KONG, MANY TORTURED AND NOW HOW MANY NOW DEAD?
IS HONG KONG'S RISING POLITICAL IMPRISONMENT RATE ALIGNING IT WITH AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES? Centre for Independent Studies, Aug 24, 2024. 0:39
PROFILES OF POLITICAL PRISONERS. Hong Kong Watch
This page contains profiles of arrested, prosecuted and jailed pro-democracy activists.
https://www.hongkongwatch.org/political-prisoners
IN RECORD YEAR, CHINA, ISRAEL, AND MYANMAR ARE WORLD’S LEADING JAILERS OF JOURNALISTS. Committee to Protect Journalists, Jan 16, 2025
DUI HUA POLITICAL PRISONER DATABASE
Created in 2000, Dui Hua’s Political Prisoner Database (PPDB) contains information about political and religious prisoners incarcerated in China since 1980. Using mostly open-source materials, Dui Hua collects information on non-violent:
· Political dissidents: people imprisoned for expressing their opposition to one-party rule by exercising universally recognized rights to free speech and association and often charged with “endangering state security” crimes such as “subversion” and “incitement”
· Religious practitioners: people persecuted for holding religious beliefs that are not officially sanctioned, including members of house churches and Falun Gong
· Ethnic minorities: people labeled “splittists” and jailed for participating in cultural and pro-independence movements
· Petitioners: people jailed for seeking redress to grievances related to land seizure, demolition, corruption, miscarriages of justice, and other issues
Names: 49,589
People under coercive measures: 7,157
Official records: 22,945
Unofficial records: 41,354
as of March 31, 2025
https://duihua.org/resources/political-prisoners-database/
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS. China Political Prisoner Concern. 2023
As of today, there are 1315 Chinese political prisoners in our database.
https://chinapoliticalprisonerconcern.org
SAFEGUARD DEFENDERS.
https://safeguarddefenders.com/en
SKY NET 2024: CHINA’S GLOBAL MANHUNT CONTINUES UNABATED. Safeguard Defenders, March 4, 2025
Last week, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) released its annual report. It provides a rare glimpse of insight into some of the Chinese Communist Party’s operations, as official data are increasingly hard to come by.
Beyond the steep increase in the use of extra-judicial incommunicado detentions in Liuzhi (as reported yesterday), the annual report also provides an update on the CCP’s flagship operation for “overseas fugitive recovery”.
In 2024, a reported 1597 individuals were captured under Sky Net. While the data does not provide a breakdown of how many of those individuals were forcefully returned from abroad, past research and official data sets indicate that would be most of the reported number.
This latest number puts the total amount of individuals forcefully returned to China under Operations Fox Hunt and Sky Net at almost 14,000 from over 120 countries and regions between 2014 and 2024.
Sky Net is China’s overarching overseas fugitive recovery operation. Launched in 2015, it includes the notorious Operation Fox Hunt started in 2014. It does not include ad hoc operations, such as the anti-telecom fraud campaign that forced the return of 230,000 individuals in the span of just over a single year (April 2021 – July 2022).
https://safeguarddefenders.com/en/blog/sky-net-2024-chinas-global-manhunt-continues-unabated
WESTERN COUNTRIES USE UN-BACKED REVIEW TO PRESS CHINA ON ITS TREATMENT OF ACTIVISTS AND MINORITIES. Associated Press, Jan 24, 2024
Western countries used a regular U.N.-backed review of China’s human rights record Tuesday to press Beijing to do more to allow freedom of expression, protect the rights of ethnic minorities and to repeal a national security law in Hong Kong that troubles independent activists.
China’s ambassador in Geneva, Chen Xu, led a delegation from some 20 Chinese ministries for the “universal periodic review” conducted under the U.N. Human Rights Council. He stressed China’s progress in poverty eradication, said citizens engage in “democratic elections” and gave assurance that freedom of religious belief is safeguarded.
20 YEARS OF HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYERS IN CHINA (PART 1). Barefoot Lawyer Reports, Sept 26, 2024. 12:58
On September 19, 2024, Chinese human rights activist Yaxue Cao showed her film, The Defenders: 20 Years of Human Rights Lawyers in China, at The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. Sponsoring the event was The Center for Human Rights, The Center for Religious Liberty, and The Center for Law and the Human Person. Her film features several prominent human rights lawyers, including Center for Human Rights Fellow Chen Guangcheng.
The Defenders — 20 Years of Human Rights Lawyers in China / 辩护人: 中国人权律师二十年 March 17, 2022
“Rights defense lawyers” emerged at the beginning of the 21st century. From their appearance, to the notorious 709 mass arrests in 2015, to today, the Chinese Communist government has subjected them to intimidation, disappearance, torture, imprisonment, and disbarment, ignoring the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers. This 68-minute documentary film reviews the twenty-year journey of human rights lawyers in China.
Written by China Change editor Yaxue Cao, the documentary is built from existing footage, partly from China Change’s own footage and partly from other sources.
https://chinachange.org/2022/03/17/the-defenders-20-years-of-human-rights-lawyers-in-china/
JAILED CHINESE ACTIVIST FACES ANOTHER BIRTHDAY ALONE IN A CELL, HIS WIFE SAYS. Associated Press, Aug 18, 2024
Ding Jiaxi knew he would spend his 57th birthday alone in a Chinese prison cell, without a phone call from family or a chance to stretch in the sunlight.
It was the activist’s fifth year in those conditions. Despite letters assuring his family in the United States that he was healthy, his wife, Sophie Luo, was not convinced.
“I’m really worried about his health, because he was tortured before,” Luo told The Associated Press from Washington.
Luo shared details about her husband’s plight before his birthday Saturday, casting light on the harsh treatment endured by the country’s jailed political prisoners, who are often deprived of rights such as outdoor exercise and contact with loved ones, according to families and human rights groups.
DING JIAXI'S WIFE SPEAKS OUT (DETAINED HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST). Barefoot Lawyer Reports, April 21, 2023. 13:45
Ding Jiaxi has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for "subverting authority" in Communist China. Sophie Luo, his wife, speaks out about his imprisonment.
INTERVIEW WITH CHINESE HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER DING JIAXI'S WIFE SOPHIE SHENGCHUN LUO. 人權律師的故事 Stories of Human Rights Lawyers, April 12, 2024. 59:00
It's amazing to have the chance to talk to Sophie Shengchun Luo. She shared her experience on how she learned about Ding Jiaxi's human rights work. She also shared how she became determined to engage in human rights work herself to fight for Ding Jiaxi and other human rights defenders.
RAISING THEIR NAMES: CHINESE POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS PRISONERS AT THE JANUARY 2024 PRC UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW AND BEYOND
Written Testimony of Sophie Luo Wife of Imprisoned Human Rights Lawyer Ding Jiaxi Congressional-Executive Commission on China Hearing on “The PRC’s Universal Periodic Review and the Real State of Human Rights in China” February 1, 2024
Since my testimony two years ago in February 2022 at the time of the Beijing Winter Olympics, I spoke at length about the cases of my husband Ding Jiaxi and his colleague and co-defendant, legal scholar Xu Zhiyong whom Chinese authorities detained after they held a private gathering of friends to discuss civil society and rule of law in China. Chinese authorities held Ding and Xu in pre-trial
detention for nearly two years and six months before trying them secretly in June 2022 and sentencing them in April 2023 to 12 and 14 years in prison. To date, no verdict has been issued to the families. After the Shandong High People’s Court refused their appeal, authorities sent Jiaxi to Jianbei Prison in Hubei province, and Xu Zhiyong to Lunan Prison in Shandong province in November 2023.https://chrissmith.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2024-02-01-_written_testimony_of_sophie_luo.pdf
Thorsten and Pattberg, your pean on Thailand heaven haven for political dissidents puts another crack in your Liberty Bell. You wrote:
“Thailand addresses humanitarian cases through cooperation with international organizations like the UNHCR, while managing immigration through its domestic legal framework. The Thai government emphasizes equal treatment of all foreign nationals, ensuring they enjoy rights and protections under Thai law while fulfilling visa obligations.”
RIGHTS GROUP URGES THAILAND TO STOP FORCING DISSIDENTS TO RETURN TO COUNTRIES THEY FLED FOR SAFETY. Associated Press, May 17, 2024
Human Rights Watch urged the Thai government to stop forcing political dissidents who fled to Thailand for safety to return to their home countries, where they may face torture, persecution or death.
The international rights group analyzed 25 cases that took place in Thailand between 2014 and 2023. It said in the report Thursday that Thai authorities violated international law by expelling the dissidents, many of whom were registered with the United Nations as refugees and were awaiting resettlement in third countries.
Many of the cases involved the forcible repatriation of Cambodians, with the suspected involvement of Cambodian security personnel. But the group also listed cases where dissidents from Vietnam, Laos and China were tracked down and abducted, or forcibly disappeared or killed.
The report said Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, in return, cooperated with Thailand to spy on Thai dissidents who had fled their own homeland to escape political repression.
Human Rights Watch called this a quid-pro-quo form of transnational repression “in which foreign dissidents are effectively traded for critics of the Thai government living abroad.”
THAILAND SENDS 40 UYGHURS BACK TO CHINA AFTER DECADE IN DETENTION Reuters By Panarat Thepgumpanat and Panu Wongcha-um February 27, 2025
Summary
Detainees part of a group of 300 Uyghurs who fled China
Flight from Bangkok lands on Thursday in China's Xinjiang
UN experts urged Thailand not to return them to China
Beijing denies accusations of persecution of Uyghurs
The 48 Uyghurs held in Thailand were part of a group of 300 who fled China and were arrested in 2014. Some were sent back to China and others to Turkey, with the rest kept in Thai custody.
Some diplomats and security analysts believe Thailand's widely-condemned deportation of 100 Uyghurs to China in July 2015 led to the bombing a month later of a busy Bangkok shrine that killed 20 people in the worst attack of its kind on Thai soil.
Thai authorities at the time concluded the shrine attack was linked to their crackdown on a human trafficking ring, without specifically linking the group to the Uyghurs.
Two ethnic Uyghur men were arrested and their trial is proceeding, despite repeated delays.
The status of the remaining eight Uyghurs in Thailand was not immediately clear.
Human Rights Watch said the transfer of Uyghurs was a "blatant violation of Thailand's obligations", while the Thai rights group Cross Cultural Foundation said it would petition a court on Thursday for an immediate inquiry.
When asked earlier about the deportation of the Uyghurs, Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said, "This sort of issue, for any country, one has to follow the law, international process and human rights."
THAILAND SENDS NEARLY 100 UIGHUR MIGRANTS BACK TO CHINA. Reuters By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Pracha Hariraksapitak. July 9, 2015
Thailand confirmed on Thursday it had forcibly returned nearly 100 Uighur migrants to China, heightening tensions between Ankara and Beijing over the treatment of the Turkic language-speaking and largely Muslim minority.
Turkish protesters attacked the Thai honorary consulate in Istanbul overnight in protest over Bangkok's expulsion of the Ugihurs, smashing windows and ransacking parts of the building.
Thailand's embassy in Ankara warned around 1,300 Thais living in Turkey to "be on alert" following the attack. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Thursday mooted the possibility of closing the embassy if the situation worsened.
Rights groups have expressed concern over Thailand's decision to send the Uighurs back to China fearing they could face ill-treatment and even torture.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Uighurs have fled unrest in China's western Xinjiang region where hundreds of people have been killed, prompting a crackdown by Chinese authorities. Many Uighurs have traveled through Southeast Asia to Turkey.
"Thailand sent around 100 Uighurs back to China yesterday. Thailand has worked with China and Turkey to solve the Uighur Muslim problem. We have sent them back to China after verifying their nationality," Colonel Weerachon Sukhondhapatipak, deputy government spokesman, told reporters on Thursday.
A group of more than 170 Uighurs were identified as Turkish citizens and sent to Turkey, and nearly 100 were identified as Chinese and sent back to China. Fifty others still need to have their citizenship verified.
"It is very shocking and disturbing that Thailand caved in to pressure from Beijing," Sunai Phasuk, Thailand researcher at Human Rights Watch, told Reuters.
"By forcibly sending back at least 90 Uighurs, Thailand has violated international law. In China they can face serious abuses including torture and disappearance."
Weerachon told reporters that Thailand had asked China to look after the safety of the Uighurs sent back. "China said it would look after the safety of these people," he said.
ON JIMMY LAI THE UNKNOWN (TO THE WEST) DISSIDENT—BECAUSE, OF COURSE, ALL THE DISSIDENTS COME FROM THE WEST
HONG KONG SAR: UN EXPERTS URGE AUTHORITIES TO DROP ALL CHARGES AGAINST JIMMY LAI, CALL FOR HIS RELEASE. United Nations Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner, 22 January 2024
UN experts* today called on Hong Kong SAR authorities to drop all charges against pro-democracy media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai and release him immediately, as his trial began in December 2023 after lengthy delays.
“Jimmy Lai’s arrest, detention and series of criminal proceedings over the past few years appear to be directly related to his criticism of the Chinese Government and his support for democracy in Hong Kong SAR,” the experts said.
JIMMY LAI’S IMPRISONMENT IS A BLUEPRINT FOR HOW AUTHORITARIANS USE ‘NATIONAL SECURITY’ TO CRUSH POLITICAL DISSENT. Foundation for Economic Education, June 17, 2024
THE TROUBLEMAKER: HOW JIMMY LAI BECAME A BILLIONAIRE, HONG KONG'S GREATEST DISSIDENT, AND CHINA'S MOST FEARED CRITIC by Mark L. Clifford 2024
He started a magazine, Next, to advocate for democracy in Hong Kong. Then, just two years before the city was to return to Chinese control, he founded the Apple Daily newspaper. Its mix of bold graphics, gossip, local news, and opposition to the Chinese Communist Party was an immediate hit. For more than two decades, Lai used Apple and Next as part of a personal push for democracy—in weekly columns, at rallies and marches, and, memorably, sitting in front of a tent during the 2014 Occupy Central movement.
Lai took his activism abroad, traveling frequently to Washington. China reacted with fury in 2019 when he met with Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. A draconian new security law came into effect in Hong Kong in mid-2020, effectively making human rights advocacy and free speech a crime and censorship a fact. Lai was arrested and held without bail before being convicted on trumped-up charges. At the end of 2023, a lengthy national security trial, that could see him jailed for life, alleged “collusion with foreign forces” and printing seditious materials. China’s most famous political prisoner has been held in solitary confinement since December 2020, while his supporters and family continue the fight to have him freed. “A sympathetic and inspiring biography” (The Wall Street Journal) and “a genuinely gripping yarn” (The New York Times), The Troublemaker is his story.
www.amazon.com/Troublemaker-Became-Billionaire-Greatest-Dissident-ebook/dp/B0CV2FF8XQ
WHO’S JIMMY LAI? - CHINA’S ‘BEST KNOWN POLITICAL PRISONER’ Channel 4 News, Feb 9, 2025. 6:36
It's been 1500 days since Hong Kong newspaper tycoon Jimmy Lai was arrested and charged under the territory's controversial National Security Law. His friend and former colleague Mark Clifford has written a new biography of Lai, now a figurehead for Hong Kong's democracy movement. We spoke to Mark and Chloe Cheung, a young Hong Kong pro-democracy activist now based in the UK. Last year the Chinese government offered a one hundred thousand pound bounty for her arrest for collusion with foreign powers - the same charge faced by Jimmy Lai.
THE FIGHT TO FREE JIMMY LAI. The Australia Institute, July 10, 2024. 22:47
Pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai faces life in prison in Hong Kong, but his son Sebastien and renowned human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson are leading the charge to set him free. After escaping mainland China in the bottom of a fishing boat at the age of 12, Jimmy Lai went on to become one of the most influential people in Hong Kong. But now the founder of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy newspaper is facing the possibility of life in prison under China’s repressive national security law. On this episode of Follow the Money, Sebastien Lai and Jennifer Robinson, legal counsel to Julian Assange, join Ebony Bennett to discuss the fight to free Mr Lai and the global threats to freedom of the press.
TRIAL OF PRO-DEMOCRACY CAMPAIGNER JIMMY LAI, PRESS FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY IN HONG KONG AT CENTRE OF NATIONAL PRESS CLUB ADDRESS. Sky News, July 1, 2024
Human rights lawyer Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC has spoken at the National Press Club on Monday alongside Sebastien Lai, son of Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy campaigner currently on trial in Hong Kong under the controversial new National Security Law.
Speaking in Canberra on Monday, the pair discussed the particulars of Mr Lai’s case, press freedom and democracy in the special administrative region of China.
Award-winning barrister Jennifer Robinson, who represents Julian Assange, also appeared on the panel.
WHAT DOES A TRADE WAR WITH CHINA MEAN FOR JIMMY LAI? National Catholic Register, Zelda Caldwell, April 15, 2025
As Washington and Beijing clash over tariffs and influence, advocates worry that political prisoners like the Catholic media mogul could become pawns — or be forgotten entirely.
“As tensions rise, it may make it more difficult to negotiate Jimmy Lai’s release, but it may present an opportunity for leverage that could be used to secure his release,” said Rogers. The 77-year-old Lai, founder of the now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, has spent more than five years in prison in solitary confinement.
According to Mark Clifford, author of The Troublemaker: How Jimmy Lai Became a Billionaire, Hong Kong’s Greatest Dissident, and China’s Most Feared Critic, the U.S. should work to keep open other avenues of diplomatic discussion with China, even as tensions over a trade war increase.
Sebastien Lai, the son of the imprisoned media magnate, traveled to Washington last month to meet with State Department officials and members of Congress about securing his father’s release.
At a press conference on March 11, he stressed the importance of getting his father, who suffers from diabetes, out of jail as soon as possible.
“There is a real fear that [my father] might pass away at any time, especially given that we have summer coming up,” with high temperatures, he said.
The new U.S. administration makes him “a lot more hopeful,” Sebastien Lai said. During the 2024 campaign, Donald Trump promised to get the senior Lai released from prison.
“By the way, 100%, I’ll get him out. He’ll be easy to get out,” Trump told talk-show host Hugh Hewitt.
“President Trump was the first president in the United States that mentioned my father by name,” Lai said.
https://www.ncregister.com/news/what-does-a-trade-war-with-china-mean-for-jimmy-lai
TRUMP SHOULD SECURE JIMMY LAI’S RELEASE. The Heritage Foundation, Mike Gonzalez, Dec 9, 2024
Lai is the world’s best-known political prisoner. He remains indomitable despite being consigned to solitary confinement 23 hours a day for years.
The Chinese authorities ludicrously accuse him of colluding with the U.S. government against China and also of being behind anti-Beijing demonstrations in Hong Kong.
Trump will strike a blow for freedom if he keeps his campaign promise and tells Xi to liberate this innocent man.
It just so happens that Trump also campaigned on having Lai released from prison. In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt on Oct. 24, Trump promised he’d do it. Here is the exchange:
Hugh Hewitt: There’s a guy named Jimmy Lai who is very important to America’s Catholics, to the world’s Catholics. He’s a Catholic in Hong Kong and, you know, a great publisher, a billionaire like you. Xi has him in jail. Do you think you could speak to Xi, when you’re back in the presidency, about getting Jimmy Lai out and out of the country?
Trump: One hundred percent, yes.
https://www.heritage.org/china/commentary/trump-should-secure-jimmy-lais-release
DONALD TRUMP SAID THAT 100% I’LL GET HIM (JIMMY LAI) OUT. HE’LL BE EASY TO GET OUT. Henry Lau, Oct 27, 2024
Former (and Future) President Donald Trump On Chairman Xi, VP Harris, And The Closing Days Of Campaign 2024 Oct 24, 2024 By Hugh Hewitt
1:08 TRUMP “100% I’ll get him out. He’ll be easy to get out. but we don't have people that even talk about it we don't have people talk”
SON OF JIMMY LAI CALLS ON TRUMP TO HELP FREE HIS FATHER. Fox Business, March 14, 2025. 8:11
JUSTICE CHIEF DEFENDS AGAINST TRUMP’S REMARKS ON JIMMY LAI HOY International Business Channel, Nov 9, 2024. 1:31
In response to US President-elect Donald Trump's remarks about Jimmy Lai, secretary of justice Paul Lam declared that judicial proceedings in Hong Kong must remain untouched by external forces.
HONG KONG SAR: UN EXPERTS URGE AUTHORITIES TO DROP ALL CHARGES AGAINST JIMMY LAI, CALL FOR HIS RELEASE. United Nations Human Rights, Jan 22, 2024
THE HONG KONGER: JIMMY LAI'S EXTRAORDINARY STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM
ABOUT THE FILM
THE HONG KONGER is a documentary by the Acton Institute. When Hong Kong’s basic freedoms come under attack, newspaper publisher and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai finds himself in the crosshairs of the state and must choose between defending Hong Kong’s long-standing liberties, or his own freedom.
Jimmy’s story is one that cannot die in a prison cell—it is one that must reignite a persistent movement to defend the cause of freedom for Hong Kongers, for China as a whole, and humanity everywhere. You can make a difference. Learn about the three ways you can get involved with the film.
#FreeJimmyLai and #FreeHongKong on social media.
THE HONG KONGER | OFFICIAL TRAILER. Acton Institute, Nov 4, 2021. 2:47
"I owe freedom my life." The Chinese government wants him silenced, but Jimmy Lai's fight for freedom in Hong Kong is far from done. Watch the trailer for the new documentary "The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai's Extraordinary Fight for Freedom" now.
THE HONG KONGER: JIMMY LAI'S EXTRAORDINARY STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM [Full Film] Acton Institute, April 19, 2023. 1:13:51
Jimmy Lai personifies Hong Kong’s entrepreneurial spirit. Within 30 years he started a fashion house and built Giordano into an enormously successful clothing retail business with thousands of stores worldwide. In reaction to China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Jimmy launched Next Media and published Hong Kong’s most successful newspaper, Apple Daily. As guardian of freedom of speech and the press, Apple Daily provided an independent voice for Hong Kong following its 1997 transition from British rule to Chinese control.
Reassured by Beijing’s “one nation, two systems” approach, much of Hong Kong’s prosperity and freedom continued—until a palpable shift occurred under the leadership of Chinese president Xi Jinping. As China retreated from its “one nation, two systems” policy and began installing pro-Beijing leaders in Hong Kong, Jimmy became a leading voice against repressive policies. Jimmy could have fled but he chose to stay, marching alongside millions of his fellow Hong Kongers in defense of freedom and democracy.
He was soon arrested and jailed. International banks froze his assets. Apple Daily was raided and key executives arrested. In June 2021, Apple Daily printed its final edition and shut its doors. Today Jimmy perseveres in a Hong Kong prison cell awaiting trial. Featuring Lord Christopher Patten, Rev. Robert Sirico, Mary Kissel, Victoria Hui, Joey Siu, William McGurn, Lord David Alton and others, The Hong Konger chronicles Jimmy’s story of heroic sacrifice and symbol of the freedom movement.
From his own testimony as well as through exclusive interviews with diplomats, citizen activists, scholars, and friends from across the globe, one thing becomes clear:
Jimmy’s fate is in our hands. His cause must not die in a prison cell—for freedom is not merely his cause, but the cause of all Hong Kongers, the Chinese people, and indeed all humanity.
COMMENTS:
@Azir0909 1 year ago I am a Chinese living abroad too. I respect CCP keeps law in order and put these terrorist into the place they belong.
ON WESTERN AND EASTERN “INFLUNCERS” WHO AID AND ABET THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY’S (CCP) CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
LET’S JUST SAY THIS, JIMMY LAI IS EXACTLY WHERE HE DESERVES TO BE. South China Morning Post, Alex Lo, Jan 27, 2023
“Say Jimmy Lai’s name”. That’s the title of a leader from the Wall Street Journal’s far-right editorial board. It sounds so breathtakingly righteous. Unfortunately, it would be hard to think of someone who is more deserving of where he is now. Let justice run its course with Lai. There, I have said his name.
When will America’s state functionaries and their media propagandists stop interfering with other countries, and Hong Kong’s independent justice system in particular?
US Consul General for Hong Kong and Macau Gregory May said the city’s national security law was undermining the rule of law. Maybe it does or maybe it actually strengthens it.
CROSS-IDEOLOGICAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE ILLIBERAL NARRATIVE OF THE 2019 HONG KONG PROTESTS IN JAPAN: AVERSION TO PROTESTS AS A KEY FACILITATOR. Chinese Journal of Communication, March 21, 2025
Abstract
In its pursuit of greater global discursive power, China aims to counter criticisms by Western democracies by promoting illiberal narratives favourable to its regime on international social media platforms. Although research has explored the nature of these narratives and their propagators, little is known about which segments of the population in democratic countries are most receptive to them. This study examined China’s international propaganda by demonstrating that the narrative, that the 2019 Hong Kong protests were riots instigated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), was accepted and disseminated by both the left and right wings within Japan’s Twitter space. In addition, a survey experiment revealed that aversion to political protests in Japan led typically China-critical rightists to accept this narrative. Contrary to arguments that participatory propaganda aims to sow discord in democracies, this research suggests that such influence operations can garner support across ideological divides.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17544750.2025.2480060#abstract
HERE ARE TWO YOUTUBE INFLUENCERS FOR THE CCP
THE TRUTH ABOUT JULIAN ASSANGE, JIMMY LAI, AI WEIWEI, FREE SPEECH AND GEOPOLITICS TODAY! Cyrus Janssen, Feb 25, 2024. 1:20:11
The US is involved in many complicated geopolitical events around the world. The war in Ukraine, the war in Gaza, a new potential war brewing in Asia. Meanwhile we have the case of Julian Assange and Jimmy Lai, one who is fighting extradition requests to the US and the other having his court case in Hong Kong. There is a lot of complicated details behind both of these stories and the events around the world. Let's break them all down in today's livestream
TAIWANESE INFLUENCER'S DOCUMENTARY REVEALS CCP'S CARROTS AND STICKS AGAINST TAIWAN. China Deep Dive, April 1, 2025. 15:00
Recently, a Taiwanese singer released a song called "Counterattack Mainland," which reflects the feelings of many people who oppose the Chinese Communist Party's rule. The rapper, Chen Po-yuan, was once a popular influencer in mainland China and a supporter of the CCP, known as a "little pink." Today, we'll take a look at Chen Po-yuan's journey and what caused his change in perspective.
CHINA’S UNITED FRONT EXPOSED: OFFICIALS’ LEAKED CALLS AND TACTICS TO BUY OFF TAIWANESE INFLUENCERS. Fun TV, Dec 7, 2024. 40:50
This documentary reveals how China's United Front Work Department buys off Taiwanese influencers and includes transcripts of phone calls with officials, showing the complexity of cross-strait relations and the changes in personal experiences.
RECRUITMENT OF ONLINE INFLUENCERS REVEALS A NEW TACTIC OF CHINA’S UNITED FRONT. Global Taiwan Institute, January 8, 2025
In June, Taiwanese YouTuber “Potter King” (陳加晉, Chen Chia-chin) revealed in a video posted to his channel that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP, 中國共產黨) was sponsoring a group of Taiwanese influencers to travel in China and make videos praising the Chinese government. Following this announcement, it was revealed that several Taiwanese YouTubers had traveled to Xinjiang in August, including one popular vlogger called “Ariel” with an audience of 1.1 million subscribers. Ariel once expressed her support of Hong Kong in a video during the 2019 Anti-Extradition Protests, but the footage was removed from her YouTube channel without any explanation. Although Ariel denied the trip was funded by any Chinese organization and that she didn’t make any money off of the content she posted about her trip to Xinjiang, her decision still garnered serious criticism from Taiwanese netizens.
In the months since, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (大陸委員會) has confirmed Potter King’s claim and begun investigating the extent of Chinese infiltration into the information space of online influencers. According to Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑), deputy head of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, although these influencers and celebrities paid for their flights, after they land in China, the host organizations will cover all the expenses they have during their stay. These cases not only aroused public vigilance against China’s infiltration in Taiwan, but also illustrated the difficulties of determining the extent to which and how influencers are affected by the CCP.
https://globaltaiwan.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GTB-10.1-PDF.pdf
CHINA IS PAYING YOUTUBERS TO MAKE PROPAGANDA. China Uncensored, Dec 21, 2021. 10:52
Influencers being paid to promote the CCP and its propaganda might not seem that unusual, especially given the lengths the CCP goes to to control the narrative on China inside and outside the country. China has effectively co-opted all the media in China through strict censorship and control of celebrities. But the CCP realizes that most people outside of China aren't as likely to be snookered by Chinese influencers on Chinese social media as Chinese citizens are. Enter the international influencers on western platforms like YouTube whose mouth the CCP "borrows" to spread its message. For a fee of course.