HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s top leader on Tuesday warned President-elect Donald Trump not to interfere in the Chinese territory’s internal affairs after he said he would “100%” release jailed pro-democracy activist and tycoon Jimmy Lai.
Lai, 76, the founder of the now-defunct pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of sedition and conspiring with foreign forces in a landmark national security trial widely seen as a test for freedom of the press in Hong Kong. and judicial independence. He faces a possible life sentence.
When Trump was asked last month if he could get Lai out of China, he told conservative podcast host Hugh Hewitt: “100%, I’ll get him out” and that it would be “so easy.”
At a news conference Tuesday, Lee did not directly answer a question about Trump’s comments but said he hoped for “mutual respect” between Hong Kong and the United States, one of its top trading partners.
“We demand mutual respect with all countries, including the US, because trade is mutually beneficial,” he said.
He said Hong Kong, whose government denies that its judicial independence is at risk, also values the rule of law.
“In this regard, I hope that all countries will respect the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and avoid political interference that could affect the judiciary and normal commercial activities in Hong Kong,” he said.
Lai’s trial, which began in December, is expected to resume next week, with Lai taking the stand for the first time as defense arguments begin.
The billionaire media mogul, who had long been a thorn in Beijing’s side, was arrested in August 2020, shortly after China’s central government imposed a national security law that criminalizes secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.
Hong Kong and Chinese officials say the law was needed to restore stability after sometimes violent pro-democracy protests roiled the city for months in 2019. But critics say the law has been used to crack down on dissent in Hong Kong, a former British colony. It was promised that its civil liberties would be preserved for 50 years when it returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
Hong Kong also passed its own national security legislation in March.
Lai, a British citizen, will be tried by three national security judges selected by Lee. He is charged under the national security law with conspiring with foreign governments to call for sanctions and other hostile actions against China and Hong Kong, and is accused of conspiring to publish “seditious” material under a colonial-era law.
He has been charged in several other cases and is already serving a nearly six-year prison sentence after being convicted of fraud in 2022.
John Burns, an emeritus professor at the University of Hong Kong who specializes in the city’s politics and governance, said Trump’s comment was part of his “magical realist foreign policy” and a combination of “bragging” and ” simple solutions’.
“Not everything in this world is amenable to a deal,” Burns told NBC News in an interview. “The authorities in Hong Kong would say that national security is not open to deals.”
Lai is “probably the most high-profile” person of the approximately 300 people arrested under the national security law, Burns said, adding that China’s central government “cares deeply about his case.”
“If Trump said he could free almost anyone, that would be more credible than saying he could free Jimmy Lai,” he said.
A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
Trump was a popular figure among 2019 protesters, some of whom waved American flags and held up posters asking him to “liberate” Hong Kong. During his first administration, Trump revoked Hong Kong’s special trade status and signed legislation authorizing sanctions against Hong Kong and Chinese officials accused of rights abuses.
That legislation was introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., whom Trump is expected to nominate as his secretary of state.
Lee, Hong Kong’s former security minister, is among officials sanctioned for their involvement in the implementation of the 2020 national security law.
He also did not directly answer a question about the possible closure of Hong Kong’s economic and trade offices in Washington, New York and San Francisco. In September, House lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a bill that would allow their closure if they are found not to be operating with a “high degree of autonomy” from China.
The legislation could also be passed by the new Republican-majority Senate and then signed into law by Trump, who could also use it as a negotiating tool with Beijing.
“We welcome normal business exchanges, economic activities and people-to-people exchanges with various economies, including the US,” Lee said, adding that more than 1,200 US companies have a presence in Hong Kong.
Last month, the international financial center regained its rank as the world’s freest economy in a report by the Fraser Institute, a think tank based in Vancouver, after falling below Singapore last year for the first time since the index’s inception in 1970. that even though the rankings were reversed, Hong Kong’s rating “continues to decline.”
“We continue to sound the alarm about signs of declining economic – and other – freedoms in Hong Kong,” the report said.
The Hong Kong government welcomed the city’s return to the top of the rankings, stressing that it “protects the rights and freedoms” of Hong Kong residents in strict accordance with the law, and that “the interests of enterprises and investors are also fully safeguarded” are guaranteed in accordance with the law.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
