#China’s Arrest of a Free-Speech Icon Backfires in #HongKong

The arrest of Jimmy Lai, the most high-profile case under China’s Draconian new law, instead of demoralizing Lai’s employees and supporters, has reinvigorated defiance. https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/chinas-arrest-of-a-free-speech-icon-backfires-in-hong-kong

Over the years, Lai’s status & his consistent refusal to bow to the Party has frustrated the regime to the extent that it launched vilification campaigns denouncing him as a “traitor,” “running dog to the Americans,” “black hand,” and the most senior member of the “gang of four.”

If Chinese officials had hoped to make an example out of Lai to cow dissenters—“kill the chicken to scare the monkey,” as the Chinese saying goes—it failed. Instead of demoralizing Lai’s employees and supporters, the arrest reinvigorated defiance among workers & activists.

Inexplicably, Chinese officials chose to arrest Lai in a manner that created a powerful visual for the world to see. First, two hundred police officers arrived in Apple Daily’s headquarters. As stunned employees looked on and broadcast the scene on Facebook Live.