Politics.be - Wie is Jimmy Lai?

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Citaat:

For two decades, media boss & ace China-hater Jimmy “Fatman” Lai was chief agent & funds-funnel for the Anglo-US Empire and its anti-Beijing forces in Hong Kong.

On the fourth day of his trial today, he pleaded not guilty to two charges of collusion with foreign forces and one count of sedition under the local National Security Law.

Throughout the West, Lai has been systematically puffed up as a Hero of Democracy and Fighter for Press Freedom. But among his own people in Hong Kong and mainland China, he is something entirely different: the hanjian (traitor) of his era.

Here is an appraisal you’d never see in Western media. It’s by Hong Kong-based journalistic stalwart L.P. Yau, my friend and successor as chief editor at Yazhou Zhoukan ????, the leading international Chinese-language newsweekly. Translation by yours truly.

THE TOXIC LEGACY OF JIMMY LAI & CO.

Former Apple Daily boss Jimmy Lai is charged with violating the National Security Law and has gone on trial in Hong Kong, attracting the attention of international political circles. He was widely hailed by Western media as a touchstone of freedom of speech in Hong Kong. The West believes that if he were convicted, it would mean the death of media freedom in Hong Kong.

Since the case is still in the judicial process, the details need to be investigated in depth. However, if we look at the history of Apple Daily and Jimmy Lai, it actually highlights the tragedy of media liberty being grossly abused. If his conviction is linked to press freedom, it exactly reflects the pride & prejudice of the Western mainstream media, which are full of double standards, mislead the people, and conceal the true history.

Most people in Hong Kong already know that Apple Daily was no longer a media organization during the 2019 Black Terror riots, but an outright political mobilization machine, inciting a color revolution. It not only stirred the crowds to destroy the Legislative Council, but also helped turn the Chinese University and Polytechnic University into hotbeds of violent revolution. Moreover, it glorified those who engaged in violent destruction as freedom fighters and pioneers of democracy.

But what is even more shocking is that this newspaper that claims to pursue justice and truth has also been involved in creating many lies. They include the killing by police of dozens of people at Prince Edward MTR Station, a gang rape by police at San Uk Ling Police Detention Center, and the slaying by police of university student Zhou Zile. These accusations have been proven completely false — rumors fabricated by the oppositionist “yellow-silk” forces to damage the image of the police force and incite the public against the “black police.” Their hidden motive was to destroy the city of Hong Kong. Having paralyzed it, they even called on the US military to land in Hong Kong and take over, completing the color revolution.

If their rumormongering and calls to overthrow the government are press freedom, then Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the American right-wing Proud Boys group, should not have been convicted of sedition and insurrection for his speeches urging the crowd three years ago to attack the US Capitol and sentenced to 22 years’ jail. The remarks of Apple Daily at that time exceeded the norms of news media in any society and became the mobilization vanguard of rebellion to overthrow Hong Kong’s government.

In fact, under today’s National Security Law, different opposition voices are still highly tolerated. There is no danger of their becoming a single voice. The front page of the Oriental Daily, Hong Kong’s largest newspaper, criticizes local governance almost every day, while the news website Hong Kong Free Press severely lambastes the Beijing and Hong Kong governments. Even Falungong newspapers and periodicals can still appear on some newsstands. But what Apple Daily did back then was not just demonize everything about the Hong Kong government, but also encourage citizens to take to the streets to cause destruction. And it repeatedly spread false rumors to discredit the disciplinary forces and make Hong Kong’s public authorities lose credibility.

Only with the promulgation of the National Security Law was the chaos brought to an end, violence eradicated, and the crisis of Hong Kong’s disintegration resolved. Looking back, the people of Hong Kong will never forget how precarious the situation was. Fortunately, the local government was able to turn the tide and reverse the crisis of social dissolution.

As Jimmy Lai’s trial unfolds, there are still many voices on the internet supporting him. They feign historical amnesia and continue to dress him up as a “fighter for press freedom.” They seem oblivious that, under US and UK standards, what Lai did would be considered outright acts of rebellion. His support from Washington and London is not only due to double standards, but also a hidden agenda with ulterior motives. They wish to continue demonizing Hong Kong and weaken its development under One Country, Two Systems.

In fact, the Biden administration happened at this critical moment to sign the National Defense Authorization Act passed by Congress. It regards mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and other places as “hostile forces,” putting them on par with Cuba, North Korea and Iran. This has put pressure on Hong Kong’s international status and restricted its economic scope for action.

The “yellow forces” that promote Jimmy Lai on the internet turn a blind eye to the violent incidents of the Black Terror; they regard the thugs who burned tunnels and smashed traffic lights as “freedom fighters.” They are all “Jimmy Lais” who dare to lie openly, “use any & all means to pursue their ends,” and fabricate tall tales to confuse the people.

But history cannot be confused, and Hong Kong people have sharp eyes. We will never forget why shopping malls were burned down one after another, why the Legislative Council was smashed, or how the San Uk Ling police gang rape and the police mass-murder case at Prince Edward Station were proven to be all-out lies. All were conclusively reported at the time by Apple Daily. But did the paper ever correct its mistakes? Has Lai apologized for these false reports?

The Jimmy Lai case is allowing Hong Kong people to relive the days when rumors were flying everywhere and to understand how press freedom was trampled on and civil liberties were abused. It also shines a spotlight on how the international media were misled, how the U.S. intelligence agencies were deeply involved, and how local young people were exploited. Today, “Jimmy Lai & Co.” are still working behind the scenes to lionize Jimmy Lai.

The 22-year prison sentence for the leader of the Capitol Hill incident in the United States makes an excellent point of reference. It is a bash on the head for the “yellow forces” of Hong Kong.

https://www.yzzk.com/article/details...A6%8D%E5%AE%B3

https://vk.com/wall578770806_21511

Verwacht geen interesse in de westerse pers voor de ontmaskering van een VS kleurenrevolutie element in Hong Kong tijdens zijn proces.

Bijlage 120275

Citaat:

WHITE HOUSE'S SECRET MESSAGE TO JIMMY LAI

Details of interactions between the US government and anti-China activist Jimmy Lai are emerging in court hearings in Hong Kong.
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- The US White House sent confidential information directly to Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong, the court heard.
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- Lai was present at a top level meeting in Washington DC with former CIA director Mike Pompeo and notorious war-hawk John Bolton.
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- Lai demanded that staff at Apple Daily print nothing negative about Donald Trump, the court was told.
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- Former media boss Lai admitted that US officials in Taiwan introduced him to Tsai Ing-wen before she become US-allied leader on the Chinese island.
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CONFIDENTIAL WHITE HOUSE MESSAGE

Full story: A White House individual sent confidential information directly to anti-China campaigner Jimmy Lai via the Signal app, a court heard at hearing last week.
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The former media boss forwarded the "internal" White House communication to colleagues and other anti-China activists, investigators discovered.
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The incident happened the week the US announced that it would hit the Hong Kong people as a whole with sanctions and status changes, harming the community's ability to make money internationally.
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But the US also wanted to hit individuals in the city with specific sanctions as well.
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'THE S**T LIST'
In court, Jimmy Lai said he had too many messages to read every day, had not read the confidential communication from the White House, and could not recall the sender. "I don’t remember who he was,” Lai said.
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However, the court heard that he forwarded the communication to top staff at Apple Daily and to senior anti-China activists. Many of these were associated with groups which had long received funding from the National Endowment for Democracy, a US body set up in the 1980s to take over some of the overseas activities of the CIA.
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A plan was afoot to draw up what Lai called "a s**t list" of Hong Kong people for the US to sanction. "I’d say we should work up a s**t list on those involved in censorship, which can include intimidation," Jimmy Lai wrote on Whatsapp to anti-China activists.
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SANCTIONED FOR ARRESTING ARSONISTS
In earlier hearings, a former top aide told the court that Lai had pressured staff at the Apple Daily tabloid newspaper to draft a sanctions list for Washington, but staff had not done so. At a 2021 hearing, Andy Li, who ran an anti-China group funded by Jimmy Lai, said a list of 143 names had eventually been sent from Hong Kong to Washington.
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Many Hong Kong individuals have been harshly sanctioned by the United States for various "offences". One "offence" was to lead law enforcement groups which arrested arsonists and bomb-makers. Another was to follow a recommendation from a G-7 anti-crime committee to implement a western-style extradition law.
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MEETINGS AT THE TOP
Jimmy Lai has had close links with the US government, particularly the right wing, for three decades—but became highly active in an operation in 2018-2020. A senior staff member earlier told the court that their boss had become particularly radical from October 2018. In last week's hearings, Lai denied this from the stand: "I don’t know how he got this impression," he said. "If I was radical, I was radical all along."
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The White House invited Jimmy Lai to join a meeting to decide what to do about Hong Kong in July of 2019, the court heard. This was a high level meeting, in which Lai met with US Vice-President Mike Pence, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the China-hating former director of the CIA. Also present was John Bolton, the ultra-hawkish Secretary for Security.
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When news of the meeting became public, commentators on Bloomberg and elsewhere remarked that top U.S. leaders would not normally meet with an overseas anti-government activist in such a way. Protocol typically required top level meetings to be conducted state-to-state.
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Lai, who returned to the US in October 2019, hired a former White House official, Christian Whiton, to arrange multiple meetings in the US, the court heard. Whiton was a man who in 2013 authored a book advocating that the US hinder the development of China, which was working to lift its rural population out of poverty. In June 2019, Whiton published an article entitled "Why Taiwan is America’s Best Asset Against China".
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THE TAIWAN CONNECTION
Lai also revealed that some years ago, when he went to the Chinese island of Taiwan to establish an edition of Apple Daily there, he was met by US officials. They introduced him to a woman named Tsai Ing-wen, who would later become a US-allied leader on the island.
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The two reconnected during the 2019 civil unrest, when Lai introduced Tsai's administration to US military specialists: ex-army general Jack Keane, and former deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz. While they already knew many US officials, Lai had become close to the ruling Republicans, and the Taiwan group needed an update on the current "sentiment and thinking” of the Trump government on China, the court heard.
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At his workplace in June of 2020, Lai demanded that a senior Apple Daily editor remind all staff that no negative news was to be printed about US President Donald Trump, the court was told.
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DISAGREEMENT OVER 'VALIANTS'
However, during the court hearings, Lai tried to distance himself from Apple Daily, saying that he never influenced the content, and had a personal position that "always opposed violence in any form".
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His claim directly contradicted multiple testimonies by the paper's senior staff at earlier hearings. They said that Lai closely steered the paper, sometimes in directions they opposed. They had "birdcage autonomy”, meaning they could write freely only within narrow confines set by their boss.
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For example, they said he told them write-ups should blur any gap between the strongly disliked "valiants" (a code word for violent activists) and Hong Kong's former demonstrators, who tended to be peaceful and much better liked. In one of his own columns, Lai wrote: "The youngsters should rise in revolt and the resistance become more valiant."
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When "valiant" protesters smashed up Hong Kong's parliamentary chambers, causing hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of damage, Lai told reporters to put a positive spin on a clearly negative event by focusing on thoughts of young people.
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ON THE RIGHT
Lai was also asked on the stand to talk about his international network – which consisted largely of anti-China people on the right wing of politics in western countries. In the US, as well as Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo, Lai cultivated contacts with Senators Ted Cruz and Rick Scott, holding meetings with them and inviting them to Hong Kong.
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In the UK he met with members of a group of anti-China right-wing politicians in parliament, including Chris Patten.
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Jimmy Lai, 76, is on trial for sedition and collusion with foreign forces, offences illegal worldwide. In related hearings, his colleagues and associates have already pleaded guilty.
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The trial continues.

@Nuri Vittachi