In a crowded Hong Kong courtroom, 77-year-old publisher and democracy activist Jimmy Lai is fighting for his life. One of Hong Kong¡¯s greatest entrepreneurs and founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, he faces charges under Hong Kong¡¯s National Security Law ¡ª a vague and sweeping law imposed by Beijing in 2020 that has snuffed out the city¡¯s longstanding tradition of press freedom.
His alleged crime? Practicing journalism and criticizing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
It would be easy for people in Japan to view Lai¡¯s case as a local tragedy ¡ª one more step in Hong Kong¡¯s transformation from a vibrant, open city into one controlled by the CCP. That would be a mistake. The persecution of Jimmy Lai is not just about silencing one man and shutting the newspaper he founded. It is part of a pattern. China is using Hong Kong as a testing ground to see how aggressively it can restrict the free speech of former citizens of Hong Kong who have fled for other countries.
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