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Will Deatherage: Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China. My name is Will Deatherage, the producer. Joining me, as always, is Chen Guangcheng.
Chen Guangcheng: Hello, everyone. I’m glad to see you here again today.
W: And today, we have some pretty big news that’s come out of China in the recent couple weeks, and that is the human rights activist Jimmy Lai. Guangcheng, can you explain what’s going on?
G: Yes, yes. The CCP used the kangaroo court to sentence Jimmy Lai [to] prison for 20 years. You know now Jimmy Lai is 78 years old, right? The CCP sentenced him 20 years in prison. The CCP want him to die in prison. That is so evil. You know, Jimmy Lai didn’t do any wrong things in Hong Kong.
W: Yeah. Can you just briefly explain for some of the listeners who Jimmy Lai is?
G: Jimmy Lai is a very good person. Before, he lived in Mainland China. But because the CCP started the Cultural Revolution, he had to escape from Mainland China to Hong Kong.
W: When did he escape from China to Hong Kong?
G: 1960s.
W: Wow, okay.
G: Yeah.
W: So way back then. Yeah.
G: So after he arrived in Hong Kong, you know, he worked hard to create the media companies there. Even the TV stations, and newspapers and magazines. And, of course, he is very influential in Hong Kong; not just in Hong Kong, even in the whole world. And his media always tries to tell the people the truth. He refused to work with [the] CCP to do propaganda.
After 1997, the CCP got Hong Kong back from England. After that, the CCP prepared to control Hong Kong.
W: Right.
G: Several years ago, the CCP created the evil law to control Hong Kong. So, before, Hong Kong was an international city. But now you can see the CCP destroyed the judicial system. The CCP destroyed the freedom of speech and the freedom of media.
Before, every year, more than one million people [were] having June 4th Memorials, the massacre in Tiananmen Square, right? But now, since 2022, they cannot, and because more than two million Hong Kong people protested, the CCP created the evil law. And then, the CCP used the evil law to arrest activists and sentence them in prison.
And, of course, the CCP arrested Jimmy Lai, too, right? Jimmy Lai refused to escape from Hong Kong. Yeah, and his body have some problem, right? But the CCP still not released him.
W: And, what year, roughly, did they arrest him?
G: About three years ago, yeah.
W: Okay, gotcha.
G: So, you know, the international nations focused on his case. Even several months ago, President Donald Trump mentioned about him when he met Xi Jinping to ask him to release him. And then, so now, you can see a lot of people criticize the CCP regime to call the foreign country to ask the CCP to release him.
The CCP never thinks to obey the constitution and the law.
W: Right.
G: Even in Mainland China, a lot of people focus on it. Even, some people, the CCP put them under house arrest. And, you know, now, the sensitive days are coming, but people still write something on social media to support Jimmy, to criticize [the] CCP.
W: Guangcheng, can you explain really quick what “sensitive days” are?
G: In Mainland China, sometimes the CCP [gets] very scared that people will do something. For example, the CCP have a meeting every March, right?
W: Right.
G: So, before this time comes, you know, the CCP will ask the activists to travel to another province. If you refuse to travel to another province, the CCP will order the police [to] prevent you from coming out.
So, Jun 4th is [a] “sensitive day” too, right?
W: Right, and we’ve talked plenty about the topic of sensitive days on our previous podcasts, such as the one we did on the CCP’s anniversary, right, Guangcheng?
G: Yeah.
W: Yeah, you can learn more about that topic at our website at humanrights.catholic.edu. There, you can learn about previous topics like this. So, Guangcheng, what grounds did they sentence him on? Like, what was their excuse? Why did they say 20 years?
G: The CCP said he worked with a foreign organization to try to change the state power. I think that is not true, right?
W: Of course.
G: No one believes that, but the CCP does still use that way to prosecute whoever dares to oppose the CCP.
W: Gotcha.
G: Yeah. So, now, we can see the CCP tore down Hong Kong. So, yeah, Jimmy Lai is a good man. Jimmy Lai tried to help Hong Kong to become the democratic city.
W: Right.
G: Yeah.
W: And it was.
G: Yeah, before, you know, in Hong Kong, you know, the freedom of speech, freedom of media, and the freedom of judicial system [were] already there, right?
W: Yep.
G: But the CCP destroyed that.
W: Yeah. So, what happens next to Jimmy Lai? I guess he just goes to prison, right?
G: Yeah, I think if the nations give [the] CCP big pressure, if the CCP refuses to release him, the Western countries will use the economic system to give [the] CCP trouble. Maybe [the] CCP will release him.
W: Alright, in previous episodes, Guangcheng, I think you’ve talked about how the US was able to -and other Western countries have been able to – put pressure on China with other human rights activists…
G: For example, if the US tells [the] CCP, “If you do not release him, we will stop trade.” That is very, very useful. Another thing is, “If you refuse to release him, we will expose how much money the CCP’s officials save in the US bank.”
W: Interesting.
G: Yeah. And, “We will tell the world how many assets the CCP’s officials hold in the US.”
W: Right.
G: So, I hope our listeners can call your representative to ask them to say something about Jimmy Lai’s case, to ask [the] CCP to stop prosecuting the activist to, in Mainland China and in Hong Kong.
W: Yeah. Well, we’ll keep following this story. Hopefully, there will be more developments on it as, hopefully, foreign governments will do something about this.
G: Yeah.
W: And you can learn more about this and other human rights atrocities committed by the CCP at our website, it’s humanrights.catholic.edu. Thanks, Guangcheng, for all this information today.
G: Thank you, Will. Thank you everyone.
The Catholic University of America’s Center for Human Rights has published a documentary on the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The documentary features world-class human rights experts from former state department officials to ambassadors and human rights activists. It can be found on our website at humanrights.catholic.edu.