Stooges for the Chinese Communist Party in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong object to an EU resolution (or “so-called” resolution) criticizing the treatment of Jimmy Lai, the elderly former publisher of the pro-democracy Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily who has been languishing in prison for five years. Having been declared guilty of subversion and other crimes in a recent lengthy show trial, Lai now awaits word on his sentencing. He may be imprisoned for life (Xinhua, January 25, 2026).
All members of the eighth-term Legislative Council (LegCo) of China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) issued a joint statement on Sunday to condemn the European Parliament’s so-called resolution on the case of Jimmy Lai.
The resolution distorted facts, defamed the national security law in Hong Kong and the HKSAR’s judiciary, and blatantly interfered with China’s internal affairs, the statement said….
The verdict was made in strict accordance with the law and evidence, free from any interference, the statement read.
The LegCo members urged the European Parliament, as well as certain countries and their politicians, to refrain from meddling in Hong Kong affairs, which are China’s internal affairs.
The Support Jimmy Lai website reports that the European Parliament’s resolution condemning the conviction of Lai and calling for his release “is the fourth time that the European Parliament has formally and robustly condemned Jimmy Lai’s unlawful imprisonment, unfair trial and ongoing mistreatment at the hands of the Hong Kong and Chinese authorities.”
Interference
According to the Chinese Communist Party and CCP propaganda outlets like Xinhua News Agency and the LegCo stooges, criticism of the Chinese government’s assaults on freedom and individual rights constitutes “interference.” These groupthinkers also say that in the Jimmy Lai case, the guilty verdict was determined “free from any interference.”
Well, which is it? Criticism of China’s totalitarian interference with the lives of the innocent “interferes with” China’s “internal affairs”? Or the criticism has no effect at all?
Whether interference is good or bad depends much on what is being interfered with. Hong Kong judges, Hong Kong officeholders, mainland news agencies and CCP officials should not be so quick to declare their outrage against and indifference to rational arguments and concern for justice, even if these arguments and concerns do come from outside their gang. Fatuous propaganda formulas don’t change facts. All of these babbling thugs should, therefore, reassess their views and choices and reform themselves and their policies. Start by releasing Jimmy Lai and all others being incarcerated merely for opposing your thug rule.
The LegCo legislators’ rote opposition to criticism of the unjust treatment of Jimmy Lai was predictable.
For the last several years, only stooges (“patriots”) have been allowed to stand for election in Hong Kong. Would-be candidates who are insufficiently submissive don’t qualify. Once the mainland kicked its assault on Hong Kong’s political independence into high gear, all democratic aspects of Hong Kong democracy were rapidly destroyed (though the phrase “one country, two systems” survives unscathed, as hallowed in the propaganda as ever).
