/ world today news/ A sad story happened in Hong Kong at the newly opened trial against the leader of the anti-Chinese protests, Jimmy Lai. The trial is a case of collusion with foreign powers against Hong Kong and China, and the most interesting thing here is the witness or group of witnesses who support the prosecution.
Jimmy Lai himself – we talked about him almost exactly a year ago, when he was sentenced to five years in prison for fraud, not politics (the lease scam) – is an extremely colorful figure: a 76-year-old billionaire, former owner of a tabloid newspaper, who dug up dirt and other incriminating evidence on any local businessmen whose views did not coincide with his own. We are talking about a man who was not only seen as a major leader of the Hong Kong protest movement – he probably thought of himself as one. Well, today, according to the definitions of the Washington Post and the New York Times (covering the trial with passion), Jimmy Lai is a “fearless fighter and a man of deep faith” and at the same time “a symbol of freedom”. What to do: the audience of these and similar posts is hungry for fresh icons of anti-Beijing fighters, the former heroes have long been erased from overuse, and here – the guy is already sitting in a prison in Hong Kong and apparently will receive a new sentence, maybe lifelong.
It’s an old story after all, but the case of those testifying against Lai is different. Their statements on a police video camera have already been shown on local television, they themselves are defendants in a separate trial, plus the aforementioned “Washington Post” conducted a unique and competent investigation of their role. And it’s a very instructive story.
The protests in Hong Kong, we recall, grew for a long time, their peak – with almost a million demonstrations – occurred in 2019. And they were mainly concentrated around the universities – various media repeatedly wrote how and what they taught there.
And here comes a group of young heroes, led by Andy Lee, who, according to Washington investigators, waged a new kind of war – leaderless, networked, basically they were internet warriors.
That is, they, at least at the beginning, knew practically nothing about each other, were not sure whether they really lived in the same city – Hong Kong, or someone was located very far from there and did not care. Andy Lee becomes their leader because of his mental characteristics: he is considered a robot (or bot) because he sleeps little and appears online at all times and with incredible frequency. As it turns out later, he really doesn’t like to leave his room and lives almost exclusively on the Internet.
What they are doing is clear – they are organizing protests and setting society towards ever greater radicalism. Here we must recall that at the height of the demonstrations in Hong Kong, arson, for example, in the subway and especially in the universities themselves became fashionable. They also campaigned on a global scale for the freedom of Hong Kong (that is, its separation from China), and Andy personally did a lot among the Japanese, because he learned Japanese himself. Worse, during Andy and Jimmy’s arrest, lists of Chinese officials were revealed that these two anti-regime fighters suggested should be subject to Western sanctions.
But they also collect money. Of course, every revolution needs money, and a lot of it: the most interesting story here is about the “pure and selfless” Decembrists, who loot the coffers of the soldiers in the regiment in which some of them serve. So, if we’re just talking about Hong Kong, then at some point the games in virtual space intersect with the accounts and interests of Jimmy Lai, and some funds, banks and accounts in this story turn out to be (as you guessed it) foreign.
As for the arrest (not of old Jimmy, but of young Andy), it’s a spectacular story overall. When Chinese authorities cracked down on protests in Hong Kong in August 2020, internet warriors began to come out of their ghost world. They planned an escape – to Taiwan. They met on the wharf, holding canisters of fuel in their hands. They sailed away and were pinned down by the Coast Guard.
Jimmy Lai’s trial will be long and the outcome is unclear. The defense, based on a tip from the Westerners, will clearly say that the testimony of the “human robot” Andy was obtained through brutal pressure and torture. It is a fact that he was sent to a mental hospital after his escape – the portrait touches listed above may explain why. And if so, then the court may not consider his testimony.
But today we have before us an extremely useful lesson for young idiots. Guys, did you seriously think your online “leaderless and borderless protest” would be leaderless? You had no idea who these leaders were and what country they were from? But now it’s your fault. Also, did you think that the local police could not have monitored and participated in the correspondence to escape by boat to Taiwan? In fact, this story should be taught not only in Hong Kong, but in all schools around the world.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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