According to a statement from the Foreign Ministry Commissioner's Office in Hong Kong, Commissioner Cui Jianchun had met with the city's new US Consul General, Julie Eadeh who paid a formal visit to the Office on September 23.
The official press release from the Foreign Ministry Commissioner's Office.
During Eadeh’s visit, Cui bluntly advised the US to drop its sanctions against Hong Kong and demanded that Eadeh stick to her job as a diplomat. The message was unmistakable: stop meddling in Hong Kong and China's internal affairs, and start acting constructively for the good of China-US relations and the city's stability.
Commissioner Cui Jianchun lays down the rules for new US Consul General Julie Eadeh during their first official meeting on September 23.
According the FMCO statement, Eadeh responded by saying that she would lead the consulate to push a "positive agenda" and foster exchanges between the US and Hong Kong.
Eadeh, who took over as Consul General for Hong Kong and Macau in August, has already caused a stir. She recently held two inaugural receptions and made a point of inviting opposition figures like Anson Chan and Emily Lau. Beijing was not amused, viewing her actions as overstepping, provocatively motivated, and a clear case of interfering in China's domestic politics.
Opposition figure Emily Lau's Facebook post with Julie Eadeh, which helped trigger the diplomatic friction.
According to one expert, Cui Jianchun's pointed reminder for Eadeh to "act like a diplomat" and "stay out of Hong Kong's affairs" was nothing less than drawing a red line. The message is simple: if Eadeh continues to meddle, she can expect a forceful response.
Ariel
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Jimmy Lai’s latest courtroom moment comes with a blunt reality check: the “solitary confinement” narrative doesn’t look the way overseas headlines sell it. At the West Kowloon Court on Monday (Jan 12), prosecutors say Lai requested the arrangement himself—worried he’d be harassed because his case was so widely reported—and the Correctional Services Department approved it after assessment. Two judges put it in plain language: “This wasn’t imposed on him by others—it was his own request,” and “If he wants, he can stop at any time.”
Prosecutors tell the court Lai’s solitary confinement is his own choice, not something forced on him. AP file photo.
That clashes head-on with what Lai’s children tell foreign media: they describe an elderly father kept alone for more than 1,000 days in a cell “without sunlight,” with summer temperatures hitting 40℃, dramatic weight loss, weakness, discolored nails “falling off,” and rotting teeth—basically a countdown to the end. They also accuse correctional staff of blocking communion for the Catholic Lai, or even cutting off curry sauce once they learned he liked it—small details used to paint a picture of psychological breaking tactics.
In court, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Anthony Chau tells a very different story: solitary confinement starts with Lai’s own application. Chau says that when Lai is remanded in late 2020, he believes his case is splashed everywhere and fears trouble from other inmates, so he applies to the Correctional Services Department. The department’s report, Chau says, finds him suitable—and it reviews the arrangment monthly, asking each time whether Lai wants to continue, with Lai confirming he does.
Chau also stresses that “solitary” doesn’t mean stripped of prisoner rights under the Prison Rules. He says Lai still has social contact—family communication, letters, publications—and can take part in religious activities such as receiving communion, and that Lai has never filed a complaint about these matters. Chau adds that Lai’s daily routine includes reading, outdoor exercise, “meaningful light duty work,” and daily health monitoring.
The courtroom reality check
The defense tries to shift the focus to age and health. Senior counsel Robert Pang tells the court Lai has high blood pressure, diabetes, and eye problems; none are immediately life-threatening, he says, but at 78, solitary confinement hits harder than it would for a younger inmate. Pang frames it starkly: “Every day he spent in prison will bring him that much closer to the end of his life,” and he cites a European Committee for the Prevention of Torture report warning solitary confinement harms prisoners and is treated as punishment in prison systems.
Judge Esther Toh isn't buying the "imposed punishment" framing, and she says so on the spot. She points out that this arrangement wasn't imposed on him by others—it was his own request, then offers a pointed analogy: it's like choosing between sharing a double room with your wife or taking a single room, picking one option, and then calling it "torture." Another judge, Alex Lee, makes the practical point: "It's not an additional punishment imposed on him. He can always end it if he chooses to."
Commentary circulating among observers says those two lines from the bench puncture the overseas media storyline in one go: the claim that Lai is forcibly kept in solitary. The same commentary says Lai’s family and foreign media keep running the “sob story,” while court appearances and medical reports tendered in evidence show his health is broadly fine—and that during remand he even gains weight at one point, with fluctuations that still leave him in an obese BMI range, not the “frail and wasting” picture described abroad.
