UK Opposition Questions Government's Plan to Resume Extradition Arrangement With Hong Kong
Under the UK's Extradition Act 2003, Hong Kong is designated as a category-2 territory, meaning the home secretary must issue a certificate upon receiving a valid request for extradition.
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Epoch Times
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- Epoch Times
Trump Says He Will Push for Release of Hong Kong Media Tycoon Jimmy Lai
President Donald Trump has said he would do what he can to help secure the release of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who has been imprisoned since late 2020 for his role in the city's pro-democracy protests. Speaking on Aug. 14 on Fox News Radio's 'The Brian Kilmeade Show,' Trump said he had urged China to free Lai during his previous administration and is willing to raise the issue again, should he meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in the future. 'I'm going to be bringing it up—I've already brought it up—and I'm going to do everything I can to save him,' Trump said, calling the self-made millionaire a 'respected guy' and a 'good guy.' Lai, 77, was arrested in August 2020 in the aftermath of mass protests against Hong Kong's national security law, widely seen as the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) attempt to clamp down on dissent and erode the city's autonomy. Lai is the founder of Apple Daily, a now-defunct tabloid newspaper long known for sensational headlines and paparazzi photographs. Yet during the height of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests, when many legacy outlets in Hong Kong amplified the CCP's narrative, Apple Daily stood out as a rare voice openly critical of Beijing's agenda and outspoken in its solidarity with the protesters. The company was forced to shut down in June 2021, after the authorities raided its headquarters, froze its assets, and arrested its senior editors. Since his arrest, Lai has been charged with multiple offenses under the national security law, including conspiracy to 'collude with foreign forces,' which could land him in prison for life. He also faces a charge under a colonial-era statute for conspiracy to publish 'seditious material,' stemming from numerous Apple Daily op-eds carrying his byline. Lai has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Lai's trial on alleged national security offences has been repeatedly delayed. It was set to resume in Hong Kong later this month, but was postponed again because of his health condition. On Aug. 14, a panel of three Hong Kong judges adjourned the proceedings to allow time for prison authorities to outfit Lai with a heart monitor and provide medication. This came after his lawyer reported he had suffered heart palpitations. Trump, whose July 2020 order ended the United States' historical policy of treating Hong Kong as a separate entity from China, acknowledged that the topic would be sensitive for Xi. 'You could also understand [Chinese leader] Xi would not be exactly thrilled by doing it,' he said on 'The Brian Kilmeade Show.' 'It was a very nasty period of time in the history of China. I mean, it was a really nasty period of time with all of that being said. 'We'll see what we can do ... we're going to do everything we can.' Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, accused Lai of having been 'a key orchestrator and participant in anti-China, destabilizing activities in Hong Kong.' Lai has long rejected accusations of advocating separatism. The British rule of Hong Kong, lasting from 1841 to 1997, holds a unique place in the so-called century of humiliation narrative the CCP forged to justify its authority. After the handover, the city retained significant autonomy and freedoms, but over the decades, Beijing has steadily encroached on those rights, portraying dissenters as separatists allegedly backed by 'foreign forces.'
Epoch Times
a day ago
- Epoch Times
LIVE NOW: CPDC Webinar on CCP's Unrestricted Space Warfare
The Committee on the Present Danger: China (CPDC), a Washington-based think tank, holds a webinar at 1 p.m. ET on Aug. 15 on the Chinese Communist Party's unrestricted warfare in and from space, and the strategy to deal with it. Moderator: Frank Gaffney, president, Institute for the American Future; vice chairman, Committee on...
Epoch Times
2 days ago
- Epoch Times
Former NY Official Vows to Root Out CCP Influence If Elected Governor
Betsy McCaughey, who served as lieutenant governor of New York under George Pataki, said she might pursue a gubernatorial bid during a recent event in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, which is home to the largest Chinese community in New York City. 'I can tell you that I am considering running for governor of New York state, and when I do, the CCP will be out of this state! Period. Driven out! We will not tolerate it,' McCaughey said in a short speech on Aug. 10, using the acronym of the Chinese Communist Party. 'I can tell you the threat of communism is not just in China. It is right here in America.' McCaughey was one of several speakers at a rally hosted by the New York-based nonprofit Global Service Center for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party. The event commemorated the occasion of more than 450 million Chinese people having renounced their ties with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. The center was formed as a result of the global 'Tuidang' or ' Quit the CCP ' movement, which was inspired by The Epoch Times' 2004 editorial series 'Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party.' The publication contains numerous topics that are considered taboo in China, including the history of the CCP and its crimes against the Chinese people. In New York City, the center has several booths that assist Chinese people in withdrawing from the CCP. The booths are run by volunteers, all of whom practice Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, a spiritual discipline based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Falun Gong practitioners have been the target of brutal persecution by the CCP since July 1999. Since then, millions of people have been detained inside prisons, labor camps, and other facilities, with hundreds of thousands tortured while incarcerated and untold numbers persecuted to death, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center. In April, a man attacked the center's booth near the Main Street subway station in Flushing. The incident followed a series of threats the center had received, including bomb attacks and shootings, primarily targeting Falun Gong practitioners and supporters. At the Aug. 10 rally, McCaughey reiterated her commitment to stop the CCP's infiltration in an interview with NTD, the sister media outlet of The Epoch Times. 'The penetration of the CCP—its illegal, secret, and violent ways inside the United States—must be stopped. They intimidate, they injure, they threaten Chinese people here who have left the Party; that must stop,' she said. McCaughey, a Republican, is the founder and chairman of Reduce Infection Deaths and co-founder of SaveNYC. During her speech, McCaughey called the Tuidang movement 'inspiring.' 'It shows that the human spirit can never be conquered. It proves that truth, once spoken, lives on forever,' she said. 'This is not about politics. It is about humanity. It is deep within our core as humans to want freedom. It is about the right to live with dignity, to believe what we choose without fear.' She commended the Chinese people for their courage in quitting the CCP, emphasizing that the United States and the international community support them. 'Together, we can build a future where the truth is not censored, where faith is not punished, and where the horrors of communism are never repeated,' she added. Another speaker at the event was Michael Pastine, assistant vice president and chief information officer of the Information Technology Services at the State University of New York at Old Westbury. Pastine criticized the CCP's control over information, including censoring the internet and rewriting history, as tools to control the minds of the Chinese people. He applauded those who have chosen to quit the CCP. 'Each one of them has broken through the wall of lies. Each one is a digital and spiritual defector—walking away from a system that values power over people, and control over conscience,' he said. Pastine also applauded the millions of people from around the world who have signed the center's ' End CCP ' petition. 'These are not just signatures. They are voices. They are data points in a moral movement that technology cannot suppress,' he said. 'As long as people choose truth, no algorithm, no surveillance system, and no dictatorship can win.'
