Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government
While Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai continues his testimony pleading his innocence in his sedition and collusion with foreign forces trial, former US Vice President Mike Pence called for his release, and US lawmakers introduced a bill asking President Trump to review imposing sanctions on Hong Kong officials for human rights violations.
On January 23, speaking in Hong Kong at the UBS Wealth Insights summit, Pence called for the release of Lai with, “there is probably no more compelling gesture in the short term to send a message of good will to the people of the United States, or the free world, than if China were to take steps to free Jimmy Lai.”
Pence is a lawyer and should know better. A person cannot be released during a trial just on the whim of a friend. In fact, Pence offered no evidence why Lai should be released and in reality, he was using Lai as a political weapon, as he had done with the USB summit.
Pence’s comment at a supposedly financial conference, drew the ire of the Hong Kong SAR government which said the remark was "a shameless interference with the course of justice and on Hong Kong's righteous efforts in safeguarding national security".
Earlier, the Chief Justice, Andrew Cheung, hit out at critics undermining the rule of law in Hong Kong during the opening of the Legal Year by describing the politization of the Court as “deplorable.”
Why do the Americans insist on meddling in Hong Kong affairs on matters that do not concern them? A Hong Kong SAR Government spokesman said Pence's comments were intended "to influence the fairness of the trial with malicious intent".
It’s part of the US DNA to interfere in everybody’s business.
If Hong Kong commented on Trumps pardoning of the Capitol Hill assault, which made him complicit in the riots, the US administration would have immediately imposed sanctions on Hong Kong.
Pence and Lai are old friends and Lai admitted in court that he had visited Pence in the White House along with other government officials, including warmonger Mike Pompeo. But he denied asking them to sanction Hong Kong or mainland officials.
Lai also has the full support of Trump who had been asked by the press if he would request Chinese President Xi Jinping to free Lai. He replied: “100 per cent I will get him out.”
And just before arriving in Hong Kong, Pence made a stopover in Taiwan and called on President Trump to renew his pledge to support Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.
Speaking during the Taiwan visit on January 17, Pence said China’s annexation of the island would impact global trade, technology and nuclear proliferation.
After listening to the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Report on Saturday, one gets the feeling that all of America firmly believes that Jimmy Lai has done no wrong. That is because the US public does not seek information on the outside world, unless it is provided by the US propaganda machine. It is so slick that the everyday American believes whatever is fed to them by the MSM (mainstream media) including the Washington Post, now owned by Jeff Bezos, a Trump supporter, the Wall Street Journal and New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdock, who also owns Fox News and another Trump supporter etc. It therefore comes as no surprise that Trump was elected President with such heavy media support brainwashing the American public.
Meanwhile, the House of China-bashers (aka the House of Representatives) have decided to start the New Year afresh with a blast by introducing a bill requiring the Trump administration to review whether Hong Kong officials should be sanctioned for human rights violations.
The "Hong Kong Sanctions Act" requires the U.S. president to determine whether dozens of Hong Kong officials violated human rights and whether sanctions should be imposed under legislation including the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 or the Hong Kong Autonomy Act.
On the 33day of his defence testimony, Lai told the court that he only had a “vague” understanding of the Magnitsky Act and denied that he was asking Washington to impose sanctions on Hong Kong through his correspondences with former US officials.
Indeed, most of the month has been a busy one for the China bashers as we enter the Year of the Snake. If the doomsday prophets continue on this path, the snake may turn around and bite them.
Mark Pinkstone
** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **
