Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank all the witnesses for not only their witness here but also their witness in life, for what they're doing for Jimmy Lai and others and for their work.
Mr. Kovrig, thank you for being here. I get emotional every time I see you. It was a long 1,000 days. My job in consular affairs at the time was extremely difficult because we did not find a solution for over 1,000 days, despite our best efforts.
I'm wondering now how we do better. Your concept of strategic empathy and that concept of not agreeing but finding some common ground and finding what's in the imagination, the motives and the understanding of the other is something that I am trying to do personally in my life all the time, so that we don't “other” people but firmly disagree. We have differences of opinion.
I'm looking for a little bit of help. I, as usual, take my wisdom from Maya Angelou, who said that if you look ahead of you and don't like what you see, and look behind you and don't like what you see, then you'd better chart a new path. I'm looking for a new path in what we do. I've spent my life as an advocate in many ways, but public advocacy doesn't always work. We have the U.K. We have the UN. We have our Prime Minister speaking to President Xi.
I'm looking for your ideas on what we can do to open a door that will get Jimmy Lai home.