Is Jimmy Lai a bargaining chip in US-China trade talks?

Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government

So, US President Donald Trump is going to ask China to release former media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, currently facing sedition and collusion charges in Hong Kong, during the trade negotiation talks in Switzerland this weekend, according to international news agency, Reuters.

There is little chance of that ever happening. In the whole scheme of world conflicts and international trade negotiations, the trial of a Hong Kong man on sedition charges pales into insignificance. Just a leaf in a tea cup. And even if it did come up during the hard talk negotiations, the Chinese side will simply ignore it.

British-based Reuters boasts a readership of more than one billion people a day and is used by some 750 television broadcasters covering 115 countries. Yes, it does have reach and is influential. But it is also biased, like most of the western media towards China and Hong Kong.

Indeed, the Reuters release was picked up by most of the world’s media.  Bloomberg quoted Trump from the release’s account of a radio interview: “I think talking about Jimmy Lai is a very good idea. We’ll put it down and we’ll put it as part of the negotiations.”

Trump was responding to a question put by Republican political commentator Hugh Hewitt on his Hughniverse podcast on May 7.

During the negotiations on Hong Kong’s future in the 1980s, Reuters moved its regional headquarters from Hong Kong to Singapore as it had no faith in Hong Kong’s future. It still doesn’t, even though Hong Kong has fought off adversaries and doomsday prophets with a shield of truth and perseverance. The story of Hong Kong’s triumphs and successes have been retold many times.

Reuters reports: “The trial of Lai – a long-standing critic of the Chinese Communist Party – has shone a spotlight on a sweeping crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong following China’s imposition of a national security law in Hong Kong in 2020.”

The writers, both Hong Kong residents, were in Hong Kong and witnessed the bloody riots that prevailed at the time, but chose to side with the dissidents and their reportage thereafter has been colored by their own emotions. Gone are the days of balanced, unbiased reporting, especially with such a reputable news organization.

But the story is continually fuelled by Lai’s son, Sebastien and his public relations team of barristers at Doughty Street Chambers in London.

On World Press Freedom Day last week, Fox News devoted a segment to Sebastien who noted that in 1995 Lai senior founded Apple Daily…which quickly “became a beacon for free speech.”  Every Hong Konger knows that Apple Daily was launched on a platform of sex, gossip and more sex. It was a sleaze newspaper, known in the west as the “yellow press.”  In its early days it had no political bias. It was not until he ran foul with the Beijing authorities over regulations concerning his Giordano store that his attitude changed towards Beijing and anything relating to authority.

Sebastien summed up his father as “an immigrant who never quite fit in.”

In this final plea, Sebastien sought the release of his father, even before a verdict has been reached in his trial, so that he “can leave Hong Kong and be with his family.”

Lai faces three charges: two counts of collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security and one count of conspiracy to publish a seditious publication.

Jimmy Lai wrapped up his testimony on March 6 after taking the witness stand for 52 days. The trial is set to hear closing arguments on August 14, which are expected to last eight days.

But again, the western press smeared the judiciary before the trial even began. The infamous BBC lauded: “Mr Lai cannot expect a fair trial in today’s Hong Kong…”

It quoted Doughty Street barrister Jonathan Price, a member of Lai’s so-called international legal team saying that the fundamental principle of the rule of law in Hong Kong has eroded and that “everybody knows there’s only going to be one result.”

Mr Price, his colleagues in Doughty Street Chambers and the BBC should be reminded that Hong Kong’s judiciary ranks No.23 out of the 142 jurisdictions in the authoritative World Justice Project last year and even higher ratings in World Economic Forum earlier findings.

Mark Pinkstone

** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **

Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government

Hong Kong’s Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok was correct in his assumption that the United States is determined to wreck the one-country, two-systems concept of a capitalist system operating under a communist regime. The success of the concept as it applies to Hong Kong is the cornerstone to China’s ultimate goal of regaining control of Taiwan.

On a Commercial Radio programme last week, Lam, who has been sanctioned by the US Department of State for simply doing his job – enforcing law and order in Hong Kong – criticized US President Donald Trump of “blurring the lines” by not recognizing Hong Kong as an independent founding member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) when imposing 145 per cent trade tariffs on China.

Hong Kong had a deficit trade balance with the US of US$21.9 billion in 2024. (US goods exports to Hong Kong in 2024 were $27.9 billion, while US goods imported from Hong Kong totalled $6.0 billion for the same period).

Yet, this was totally ignored by Trump when he lumped Hong Kong’s trade to that of the mainland when applying the tariffs to China.

Lam said that blurring the lines of the one country, two systems principle of governing by linking Hong Kong with the mainland when applying the tariffs was designed to “ make people think there was no difference” between the two.

Under the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong, Paragraph 6 clearly states: “The Hong Kong Special Administration Region will retain the status of a free port and a separate customs territory.”

The Joint Declaration is an internationally recognized treaty between Britain and China and is registered with the United Nations. However, Trump chose not to recognize Hong Kong’s legality as a trading entity. He also tore up the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992, in which the US affords Hong Kong’s special status as a part of China and that agreements between the U.S. and Hong Kong that predated the 1997 handover would remain in effect.

For Donald Trump, treaties and agreements mean nothing, a hallmark of the Trump empire which will be remembered in future trade negotiations. All of the trade agreements made with countries throughout the world have been thrown to the wind as if they never existed.

Feeling the pinch is the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, which boasts some 2,000 members and is the largest AmCham outside the US. Noting that Hong Kong’s current predicament is “unfortunate,” it said that the US’s trade surplus with Hong Kong supported about 140,000 jobs in the US. In its latest newsletter, the chamber, giving full support for Hong Kong, said that “Hong Kong continues to uphold its status as a free port for the US and all other trading partners, not imposing tariffs on imports and not maintaining tariff rate quotas.”

Indeed, many members are impacted by the current turbulence and AmCham remains hopeful for a swift resolution to the current situation that will bring more economic prosperity to both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

In his radio programme, Lam said that the US has engaged in “transnational bullying” that is in complete violation of international relations and law. And he should know. Lam is a barrister-at-law, something Donald Trump is not.