Jimmy Lai is more than just a journalist today behind bars. Usually, dictators lock up the most vulnerable, independent reporters, troublesome investigators, at most their editor. Lai was the star columnist, owner and boss of Hong Kong’s largest daily newspaper, the late Apple Daily, which has been closed since his arrest two years ago.
He now languishes in a cell in Stanley prison, on a tip of the formerly autonomous island, severely disciplined after his monster demonstrations in 2019. By the admission of Reporters Without Borders, there is no similar case. (except perhaps the much lesser-known Guatemalan José Rubén Zamora).
Le Point: Emmanuel Macron receives Li Qiang, the Chinese Prime Minister, while your father is still behind bars. Are you worried about not getting enough support from Westerners?
Sebastien Lai: We received a lot of support from the United States and, in Brussels, the Parliament passed a resolution to demand the release of Jimmy Lai and the Hong Kong political prisoners. The support that we would like stronger is really that of England. Through the situation in Hong Kong, we can see what China thinks of the world and of human values. This is China’s moment of truth.
And France?
Hong Kong fought on the quest for freedom. If France, which is supposed to be the country of human rights, does not stand up for this cause, it means that it is retreating, and thus, step by step, China will impose its “truth”. Fighting for Hong Kong is not just saving Hong Kong, or even waging a new cold war, but defending democracy. I would like you to highlight the case of my father. France is one of the greatest defenders of freedom and equality. The history of Hong Kong is really that: it is people who are incarcerated because they have decided to defend their home and their freedom!
Why did your parents call you Sebastien, written like that, in the French way?
My mother has a deep love for France, she studied there, and my parents even got married here. We used to come to Perigord every year. A family friend, a doctor, made us discover the best products, cheese, truffles, etc. My father often wrote about French gastronomy. He even received the Order of Agricultural Merit for having made French cuisine known in China.
Who is Jimmy Lai really?
My father was born in China into a wealthy family expropriated by the Communists. My grandfather had been authorized to leave the country renouncing his property. My grandmother, an educated woman, something unacceptable to some Communists, was sent to a labor camp. At 6 years old, my father had to take care of his sisters and work. He finally left for Hong Kong on his own at age 12. His aunt, who lived there, had to pay for the passage, and from the first day of his arrival he had to work in a glove factory to reimburse her.
And that’s how he made his fortune, creating Giordano?
It is the symbol of a man who made himself. Hongkongers see those who have money as their representatives. So my father’s word was very much listened to. Then Tian’anmen happened. My father believed that this wind of freedom would be a rebirth for China. But the Communist Party responded by massacring the protesters. My father was the one who cried out the loudest against this tragedy.
Is that why he founded Apple Daily?
It was the symbol of the democracy movement in Hong Kong. Its success was meteoric, and it quickly became the best-selling daily.
For what ?
Because it printed in color and instead of being written in an academic language it used everyone’s words. He really democratized the press. You didn’t have to be educated to read it. It’s a very beautiful story because it’s someone who arrived as a worker, with nothing, a lover of freedom, an unlikely hero. And, while all those who had become rich were silent, he decided to speak and not be silent.
The national security law passed three years ago brutally put an end to democratic hopes. How did your family get through this ordeal?
Everyone asks me if I asked my father to leave Hong Kong. He told us, “Don’t be afraid. He wanted to lead by example. And prove that this movement was not bought. That’s why he stayed in Hong Kong, despite the risk of being arrested.
Beijing rightly accuses your father of being a pawn of the United States. How to refute this accusation?
It’s simple: if he was just someone who got paid, he would have left. Nobody, even for all the gold in the world, would risk dying in prison, except by conviction. This is what terrifies the Communist Party. He fought with integrity even though he had so much to gain by siding with China.