Hong Kong prison guards have started formally rehearsing their procedures in case of Jimmy Lai’s death behind bars.
asserted
guards → start → bars
Lai, 78 years old, has spent more than 2,000 days incarcerated in Hong Kong.
asserted
Lai → spend → Kong
In February, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted under Hong Kong’s national security law.
asserted
he → sentence → law
Last week, a new report from the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation found that guards at Stanley Prison have been practicing what they will do if he dies in custody.
asserted
he → find → custody
That news hits me hard — because for me, Lai’s story has never been an abstraction.
asserted
story → hit → me
In 1989, I joined the democracy movement that culminated in the protests in Tiananmen Square.
asserted
that → join → Square
After the Chinese Communist Party crushed our movement, I ended up on its most-wanted list.
asserted
I → crush → list
I was fortunate: I escaped China, came to the United States, and became an attorney.
asserted
I → escape → States
I built my life in a country where the rule of law protects the individual from the power of the state.
asserted
rule → build → state
Jimmy Lai took a different path.
asserted
Lai → take → path
He stayed and built Apple Daily to champion freedom and democracy in China.
And when Beijing steadily tightened its grip on Hong Kong, he refused to stay silent.
asserted
he → stay → Kong
Earlier this year, after watching my daughter Alysa win Olympic gold in figure skating, I found myself reflecting as never before about what freedom had come to mean to me.
asserted
freedom → watch → me
Alysa’s skating in Milan embodied a kind of freedom I once could barely imagine: the freedom to become yourself, to speak, to strive and even to fail without a government deciding what you are permitted to think.
uncertain
you → embody → what
Lai represents the terrible reverse of that idea.
asserted
Lai → represent → idea
His case shows what happens when the state decides that speech itself is a threat.
asserted
speech → show → ?
Hong Kong authorities convicted Lai of two conspiracy counts involving collusion with foreign forces and another involving seditious publications.
asserted
authorities → convict → publications
Beijing and Hong Kong officials maintain that his prosecution was legitimate, and that the city continues to operate according to the rule of law.
uncertain
city → maintain → law
That’s categorically untrue.
asserted
That → ’ → ?
There is no disputing the human reality now confronting his family: Unless something changes, and fast, Lai will likely die in prison.
asserted
Lai → be → prison
Before returning to the White House for a second term, President Donald Trump made them a clear commitment.
asserted
them → return → term
In a 2024 interview, Hugh Hewitt asked Trump whether he would convince Xi Jinping to get Lai released.
asserted
Lai → ask → Jinping
“100%, yes,” Trump answered firmly.
asserted
Trump → answer → ?
“100%, I’ll get him out.”
asserted
I → get → him
Now he must keep that vow.
asserted
he → keep → vow
Xi Jinping arrives in Washington Wednesday for a summit with Trump and a formal state visit.
asserted
Jinping → arrive → Trump
Trade, tariffs, Taiwan, artificial intelligence and other disputes between the world’s two most powerful countries will crowd the agenda.
Lai’s name belongs at the top of the conversation.
asserted
name → belong → conversation
In fact, no other topic should arise without Xi’s unequivocal assent to his release.
asserted
topic → arise → release
Trump needs an unmistakable win in a summit heavy on ceremony — and fulfilling a promise he made before returning to office would keep critics from saying he’s been played by the CCP.
asserted
he → need → CCP
For his part, Xi is facing a stagnant domestic economy that’s straining under heavy public debt.
asserted
that → face → debt
Releasing an elderly prisoner could buy some much-needed international goodwill.
uncertain
Releasing → release → goodwill
At their last meeting in Beijing, Xi told Trump that getting Lai out of prison would be difficult.
asserted
getting → tell → prison
That’s a bald-faced lie: Xi is the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.
asserted
Xi → ’ → Zedong
Whatever the legal formalities, it strains credulity to suggest that Lai’s fate is somehow beyond Xi’s influence.
asserted
fate → strain → influence
The truth is that if Xi wanted Jimmy Lai free, Jimmy Lai would be free.
asserted
Lai → want → ?
For those of us who remember Tiananmen, there’s something painfully familiar about this.
asserted
who → remember → this
Governments may change their slogans and courtrooms may replace tanks, but the fundamental question remains: What happens to the person who will not be silenced?
uncertain
who → change → person
As a lawyer, I find the verdicts in Hong Kong’s political prosecutions acutely galling.
asserted
verdicts → find → prosecutions
Despite Beijing’s promises of autonomy, the rule of law I have spent my career practicing no longer survives there.
asserted
I → spend → career
It is rule by power dressed in legal robes.
asserted
It → dress → robes
And Lai embodies Hong Kongers’ refusal to accept that they could be so badly cheated.
uncertain
they → embody → refusal
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
