The inevitable conviction of Jimmy Lai

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s (HKSAR) latest anti-democracy show trial began on December 18, 2023. The defendant in the dock this time is tycoon and activist Jimmy Lai Chee-ying.

Lai is accused of “conspiring to collude with foreign forces” under China’s national security law for the HKSAR and conspiring to “print, publish, sell, offer for sale, distribute, display and/or reproduce seditious publications” under the HKSAR’s sedition law. If convicted, Lai could be sentenced to life in prison.

On January 2, 2024, Lai pleaded not guilty to all charges. However, given how Hong Kong’s once-independent judicial system has operated since China promulgated the national security law in June 2020, Lai’s conviction is almost a foregone conclusion. The only real outstanding question about the show trial is the length of Lai’s prison sentence.

So why Jimmy Lai? Lai made his initial fortune by creating the well-known Hong Kong clothing brand, Giordano. Founded in 1981, Giordano specialized in producing fashionable, value-for-money clothing geared for Asia’s growing middle class.

Giordano’s retail stores were also popular for the high-quality customer service offered – a rare feature in much of Asia. Giordano currently operates over 2,000 stores in more than 30 countries.

Lai first crossed paths with China’s leaders in 1989, when he donated thousands of dollars to provide food, clothing and other assistance to the Tiananmen Square protesters. His stores also sold t-shirts featuring the faces of some of the student leaders of the Tiananmen protests.

In 1990, Lai began publishing the weekly magazine, Next, which featured a combination of in-depth political and economic investigative journalism and tabloid-like sensational