The Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has strongly rebuked New York-based The Wall Street Journal for an editorial on the sentencing of former media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying as “rich in bias, poor in facts and severely misleading”.
In the statement on Tuesday -- a day after Hong Kong’s High Court jailed Lai for 20 years following his conviction on charges under the city’s National Security Law -- a spokesperson for the office accused the international daily of publishing an “obviously prefabricated piece” entitled “Jimmy Lai Gets a Death Sentence”, calling it a product of “sheer speculation oceans away” that fundamentally misrepresents legal reality in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
The spokesperson urged the publication to abandon clickbait tactics and disinformation, saying the newspaper’s misleading title wrongly equated a 20-year prison term with a death sentence despite Hong Kong having formally abolished that in 1993.
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The response refuted the editorial’s characterization of the trial as a “profound injustice”, emphasizing that the proceedings had been conducted with full transparency under close observation by the public, the media and foreign consular officials.
“The proceedings were beyond reproach, the sentencing was grounded in law, and the punishment fits the crime. This is the very embodiment of justice,” the spokesperson said.
Addressing the editorial’s claim that the SAR is now “firmly under the iron boot of Beijing”, the statement called it a grave misunderstanding of “one country, two systems”, underscoring that the HKSAR is part of China.
The office also rejected the notion that Lai’s role as a publisher deserved special legal immunity, reiterating the principle that “everyone is equal and no one is more equal before the court”. As to the editorial’s lament over the “end of an era” for Hong Kong, the spokesperson declared that what has ended is the period of violence and chaos instigated by anti-China forces, and what has begun is a new chapter of stability and prosperity.
Citing a recent survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, the spokesperson noted that 94 percent of United States companies in the city interviewed expressed confidence in the SAR’s rule of law, with 92 percent saying they do not plan to relocate their headquarters.
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“The physical distance you keep from Hong Kong has led to a profound disconnect, leaving your editorial board in a cocoon, isolated from the reality here. Therefore, I suggest that your editors step out of your New York cocoon and visit Hong Kong. Seeing is believing, as always,” the spokesperson said.
