Thank you very much.
Mr. Chair, thank you for the invitation to meet with the subcommittee today.
This committee has heard much already about Jimmy Lai and repression in today's Hong Kong. It is an undeniable fact, no matter how hard the Chinese Communist Party and its instruments in Hong Kong pretend otherwise, that the freedoms and rights promised under the Sino-British agreement have been gutted.
Today I would like to discuss why the people, Parliament and Government of Canada, or of any country which values freedom, democracy and justice, should care about Jimmy, Hong Kong's political prisoners and Hong Kong itself.
When I arrived as U.S. Consul General in 2005, Hong Kong was the most free part of China and prided itself on being Asia's world city. People like me hoped that Hong Kong could, over time, provide an example to China of what a free—or at least more free—Chinese society and economy could become. I also met Jimmy then, and we and our families became, and remain, personal friends.
Today Hong Kong has become the place where one can witness the clash between Xi Jinping's vision of an advancing authoritarian world order and the vision set out in the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, a vision embraced by Canada and aspired to by most people the world over. Xi has long been clear about his ambitions, though we have not paid attention until recently. The lure of the Chinese economy, and what turned out to be false hope about the nature of China's role in the international community, blurred the reality of Xi's drive to overcome the liberal values on which so much depends.
To see Xi's vision for the future in real time, look no further than Hong Kong. The freedoms and way of life promised by China for at least 50 years after the handover no longer exist, except to the extent that the authorities say they do—at their discretion. Rule of law, once a core value, has become rule by law at the disposal of the authorities. Hong Kong once embodied liberties not available to mainland Chinese. Jimmy and the more than 1,700 political prisoners languishing in Hong Kong jails for peaceful political activity, which was previously protected in Hong Kong, give evidence that those liberties are no longer available as a matter of right to the people of Hong Kong as well.
What becomes of Jimmy and the freedom in Hong Kong matters, because the erosion of freedom and fundamental Liberal values there raises the risk for all of us over time. If people of goodwill stand aside and fail to resist that erosion, our vision of values becomes weaker. Jimmy chose his path when he did not need to. He had options. He chose to stand against the authoritarians in Beijing, against repression, and for the principles and values of a free and democratic world, and to stand for the promise of Hong Kong and its people.
I recall the words of the German Lutheran minister who famously regretted his failure to speak out when the Nazis came for the socialists, and then the trade unionists and then the Jews: He lamented, “Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”. I have long remembered those words. Jimmy Lai is standing his ground for all of us. We owe it to our people and our children to speak for him and the people of Hong Kong.
The Canadian government should press for the release of Jimmy and all political prisoners. The Canadian government should sanction chief executive John Lee and other senior officials—an action currently under consideration before the U.S. Congress. Parliament should demand the removal of all non-permanent foreign judges from the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, including former Canadian Chief Justice McLachlin. Their continuing presence confers an air of respectability when rule of law as protection of freedom has collapsed. The government should also close the Hong Kong economic and trade office in Toronto, which now operates not on behalf of an autonomous Hong Kong but on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, with all that entails. Finally, I urge you not to forget Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong.
Mr. Chair, thank you and the members of the subcommittee for your time and attention.