Jimmy Lai vs. China

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2020

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This episode contains strong language. Jimmy Lai was born in mainland China but made his fortune in Hong Kong, starting as a sweatshop worker and becoming a clothing tycoon. After the Tiananmen massacre in 1989, he turned his attention to the media, launching publications critical of China’s Communist Party. “I believe in the media,” he told Austin Ramzy, a Hong Kong reporter for The New York Times. “By delivering information, you’re actually delivering freedom.” In August, he was arrested under Hong Kong’s new Beijing-sponsored national security law. Today, we talk to Mr. Lai about his life, his arrest and campaigning for democracy in the face of China’s growing power. Guests: Austin Ramzy and Tiffany May, who cover Hong Kong for The Times, spoke with Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy media tycoon and founder of Apple Daily. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: In August, Mr. Lai, his two sons and four executives from Apple Daily were arrested under the new national security law. The publication was a target and a test case for the government’s authority over the media.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From The New York Times, I'm Michael Bavaro. This is The Daily.
0:12.0	In the weeks since China imposed a strict new security law on Hong Kong,
0:17.0	dozens of people have been arrested there.
0:20.0	Today, my colleague Austin Ramsey speaks to the most high-profile figure arrested so far
0:29.0	about his quest for freedom and the future of Hong Kong.
0:44.0	It's Thursday, September 3rd.
0:50.0	Austin, who exactly is Jimmy Lai?
0:53.0	Jimmy Lai is a wealthy media-tikening in Hong Kong.
0:59.0	Jimmy Lai has lived the Hong Kong dream. He went from rags to riches.
1:05.0	He went from working at a Hong Kong sweatshop to founding a business empire that is now worth around $1 billion.
1:12.0	He made his first fortune in clothing. He's now in media.
1:16.0	Lai is the owner of Apple Daily, one of the most widely read newspapers in Hong Kong.
1:21.0	He's a man about town. He's politically active.
1:25.0	Mr. Lai is Hong Kong's most prominent pro-democracy campaigner.
1:29.0	He's an outspoken critic of Beijing's policies in the territory.
1:33.0	Outspoken, unafraid, he has said to cause trouble to speak his mind and to support his publicism.
1:40.0	And the story of how he became who he is is very much a story of Hong Kong.
1:47.0	He reflects, in many ways, the promise of Hong Kong and now what's happening to him today reflects some of the disappointments.
1:58.0	Police in Hong Kong have arrested media mogul and democracy proponent Jimmy Lai along with six other people under that controversial new national security law.
2:08.0	After the national security law was passed, Jimmy Lai was arrested.
2:13.0	And after he was held for about a day, he was released and out on bail.
2:19.0	And he agreed to talk to us.
	...

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