Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, issued the following statement in wake of a Hong Kong court’s horrific 20-year sentencing of the 78-year-old Jimmy Lai—functionally, a life sentence:

             Jimmy Lai is a man of faith and conscientious conviction, and he should be released immediately. Despite—or perhaps, in spite of—his life’s work as a legendary entrepreneur and a lion of free speech, Jimmy has been unjustly prosecuted and persecuted by functionaries, who, for all purposes, are lackeys of the Chinese Communist Party.

             President Trump has spoken eloquently on his behalf, and I ask the President to continue to prioritize Jimmy Lai’s release, as well as the releases of Americans unjustly detained in China. Jimmy’s poor health, due to his advanced age and mistreatment in prison, only underscores the necessity of his prompt release on humanitarian grounds.

             To this end, I have authored legislation (HR 2522) and chaired numerous congressional hearings to raise awareness of Jimmy’s case and to call for his release. One hearing in particular, entitled “One City, Two Legal Systems: Political Prisoners and the Erosion of the Rule of Law in Hong Kong,” featured the powerful testimony of Jimmy’s son, Sebastien, who detailed how his father has been targeted, harassed, and maligned by CCP and Hong Kong authorities:

“My father has never advocated for violence. He is a man of peace. His only so-called ‘crime’ is to disagree and condemn the actions of the CCP and the Hong Kong authorities that seek to silence critical voices. For that, he faces the rest of his life in prison.

“My father is a victim of an autocratic State which will not tolerate dissent or criticism. It is clear that there is no longer ‘One Country, Two Systems’ but that Beijing is now controlling Hong Kong. The [National Security Law] spells that out. His treatment is grossly unfair.”

             As Jimmy Lai’s case has shown, time is of the essence. The United States must use all diplomatic and economic tools at its disposal to advocate for the release of heroes like Jimmy Lai.

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