'The CCP has never run up against somebody like Jimmy Lai.' (feat. Mark L. Clifford)-Programs-Radio Taiwan International

'The CCP has never run up against somebody like Jimmy Lai.' (feat. Mark L. Clifford)

01/05/2025 The Divide

Hans (left), who used to live in Hong Kong, witnessed the waves of mass street protests and political movements since the 2019 anti-extradition bill movement. On the February 8, he joined a protest in front of the site planned for China’s massive new embassy in London, voicing support for Hong Kong media figure Jimmy Lai, who has been prosecuted under Beijing’s national security law. (Photo: CNA correspondent Yun-yu Chen in London, February 9, 2025.)

Friends with Jimmy Lai for decades, Mark L. Clifford now finds himself bearing witness to Hong Kong's persecution of him, as prosecutors use their correspondence as evidence of “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces.”

In this episode, the author of The Troublemaker: How Jimmy Lai Became a Billionaire, Hong Kong's Greatest Dissident, and China's Most Feared Critic shares his reaction to the charges against Lai — and reflects on whether he thinks his biography does justice to his friend’s life story.

The Divide