Confucius once said, “he who chases two rabbits, catches neither.” Perhaps San Francisco native Eileen Gu should have thought about that before skiing for China in the Olympics.
Despite fawning coverage and glowing praise from the Western press, Gu has drawn sharp rebuke from Americans for snubbing her nation. But she isn’t catching much love from the Chinese public, either.
Her Chinese critics have nicknamed her &#8220;Gu Ai Qian,” a pointed play on her given Chinese name &#8220;Gu Ai Ling,” which literally translates to &#8220;Gu Loves Money.&#8221;
This insult highlights the widespread perception that Gu is an opportunist, ditching her native country to maximize personal profit in a system that, paradoxically, rewards her with state funds and endorsement riches unattainable for most Chinese citizens.
A Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau budget that was eventually scrubbed from the internet revealed China paid Gu and another athlete a combined $6.6 million ahead of the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics, with nearly $14 million paid over three years. On top of this government funding, she has also amassed enormous wealth through global luxury brand endorsements, earning around $23 million in 2025 from sponsorships with companies like Red Bull, Porsche, and Louis Vuitton, as well as Chinese firms such as Anta and TCL, making her one of the world&#8217;s highest-paid female athletes.
Ever since the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, speculation has raged over Eileen Gu&#8217;s actual citizenship status, with many wondering if she quietly holds dual citizenship with China. Gu has remained notoriously evasive whenever the topic comes up, dodging direct questions and leaving the public guessing.
This ambiguity has fueled resentment in China, where dual citizenship is strictly prohibited. Without any evidence that Gu has renounced her American citizenship, Chinese commentators bemoan her special treatment as a privileged foreign-born elite, bending rules that ordinary citizens could never get away with.
Chinese netizens have begun deploying the popular skincare mantra “Morning C, Evening A” — a reminder to use vitamin C products in the morning and vitamin A in the evening — to mock Gu’s dual loyalty. During the day, Gu competes under the Chinese flag, cheering for the motherland and reaping the rewards, only to revert to her American self off the slopes, enjoying the personal freedom and luxury brands of the West.
Other Chinese critics have openly called Gu unpatriotic — accusations which she responded to on the Chinese social media platform Douyin.
“In the past five years, I’ve represented China in 41 international competitions and have won 39 medals for China,&#8221; Gu says to the camera. &#8220;I have also introduced three chief coaches and donated freestyle skis to the national team, and continually advocated for China and women on the global stage. What have you done for the country?”
This fiery post notwithstanding, Gu has made several attempts to thread the needle on her identity, telling several media outlets that she’s American when she’s in the United States and Chinese when she’s in China. Her biculturalism and dual nationality might well be forgiven by Americans if U.S.-China tensions weren’t so heightened at the moment. If an American athlete had defected to represent the Soviet Winter Olympic team in the 1980s, she would have been branded as a traitor, universally despised by the public, and excoriated by the media.
The same accusations of dual loyalty leveled against Eileen Gu from the American side might have carried far less sting, and perhaps even been tempered with understanding, had she ever openly acknowledged and expressed genuine gratitude for the freedoms, opportunities and nurturing environment that both she and her mother, Yan Gu, enjoyed after Yan fled China decades ago to forge a new life in the United States. It was precisely those American liberties and opportunities, including access to elite education and world-class training facilities, that laid the foundation for Eileen’s extraordinary career and global success. A simple, heartfelt recognition of that debt could have softened the narrative of betrayal for many Americans.
Instead, she feels quite free to lob criticisms at her home country while remaining notably silent on China’s human rights record. When pressed on the documented repression and cultural erasure of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang by the Chinese Communist Party, Gu shrugged it off, saying, &#8220;I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s my business.&#8221;
Of course, all of this actually endears her to the Western media elite and global consumer brands, who view Gu as the living embodiment of the Davos mindset — a borderless, fluid world citizen who transcends outdated notions of national loyalty. In this cosmopolitan worldview, sovereign allegiance is a parochial relic of a bygone era, unfit for the enlightened global class that prizes transnational flexibility and seamless access to markets above all else.
Gu’s ability to navigate and profit handsomely from both the American system that granted her mother refuge and the CCP’s vast, state-directed economy makes her the perfect poster child for this ideology. The message from glossy profiles, luxury campaigns, and elite commentary is unmistakable: true modern virtue lies not in unwavering loyalty and love of country, but in mastering the art of being everywhere and nowhere at once — especially when that strategy aligns with the interests of authoritarian capital and multinational corporations eager to court the Chinese market. In their eyes, Gu isn’t betraying anything; she’s simply ahead of the curve, a gleaming symbol of the post-national future they champion.
Perhaps Gu has unwittingly manifested her long-stated dream of serving as a bridge between China and the United States. On the ground in both countries, populist sentiment has coalesced in strikingly parallel ways: ordinary Americans decry her as an opportunistic turncoat who exploits American freedoms while cashing in on Beijing&#8217;s largesse, while Chinese citizens mock and brand her dual loyalties. Both Americans and Chinese are rejecting the notion that one can glide seamlessly between superpowers, reaping rewards from each without genuine allegiance or sacrifice.
In the end, it comes back to Confucius: If you want to catch a rabbit, you have to pick one to chase.
Melissa Chen is the managing director of Strategy Risks, a business intelligence firm dedicated to assessing and mitigating China-related risks for corporations, NGOs, and governments.
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Untitled design – 2026-02-26T134447.465

Eileen Gu’s Dual Loyalties Earn Her Double Resentment

China

Eileen Gu

U.S. Citizens

Winter Olympics

When President Trump addresses the nation tonight, Jimmy Lai’s daughter, Claire Lai, will sit in the chamber as a reminder that the Chinese Communist Party is still punishing dissidents who dared to believe in freedom. Earlier this month, we learned of the <a href="http://google.com/search?q=jimmy+lai+sentence&amp;sca_esv=190a96a9d156750b&amp;rlz=1CAGZLV_enUS889&amp;tbm=nws&amp;sxsrf=ANbL-n4Gq5fmGsUjNbcnkqRKkx3Ey-n_Pw:1771015882615&amp;ei=yo6PafujJYSlqtsPu-XyiQc&amp;start=10&amp;sa=N&amp;ved=2ahUKEwj7sMykrNeSAxWEkmoFHbuyPHEQ8NMDegQIBhAW&amp;biw=1536&amp;bih=695&amp;dpr=1.25">near-life sentence</a> handed down to the Hong Kong democracy advocate. But Lai is not merely a symbol of Beijing’s repression. He is a British citizen. And if it takes an American president to elevate his cause before the world, it raises an uncomfortable question for Prime Minister Keir Starmer: what, exactly, is British citizenship worth?
Jimmy Lai’s life reads like a true rags-to-riches story. Born in mainland China, a 12-year-old Lai traveled by boat to what at the time was British Hong Kong with no money to his name. Finding work in the garment industry, Lai climbed his way up from the factory floor to achieve billionaire status. He could have rested on his laurels and gone quietly into retirement, but that is not who Jimmy Lai is.
Lai recognizes that his rise is thanks to the rights and freedoms Hong Kongers grew accustomed to, thanks to years as a British colony. Promising decades of autonomy and freedom under the handover, the CCP gradually whittled down the freedoms enjoyed in the city. Jimmy Lai refused to take these encroachments lying down, engaging in memorials of the Tiananmen Square Massacre and publishing pro-democracy content in the Apple Daily, the newspaper he founded. Therefore, it was no shock that Lai incurred the wrath of the CCP in the form of the National Security Law (NSL), under which he was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/10/hong-kong-media-tycoon-jimmy-lai-arrested-over-alleged-foreign-collusion#:~:text=%E2%80%9CToday%27s%20police%20action%20upends%20those,in%20protest%20against%20his%20arrest." target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrested</a> in 2020 for allegedly colluding with foreign forces.
Enter Keir Starmer, the British prime minister. While Starmer’s government has voiced opposition to Lai’s imprisonment, it has thus far been unsuccessful in securing Lai&#8217;s release. So why is the conviction of a Chinese citizen the business of Starmer or Great Britain in general? After all, a spokesman for the Chinese government <a href="https://www.bastillepost.com/global/article/5598459-jimmy-lai-should-be-severely-punished-by-law-spokesman">denounced</a> criticism of Lai’s conviction as interference in an internal affair. However, there are several reasons why this issue matters to the British Government.
First, Hong Kong is not just a former British colony — it is a city in which Britain has treaty obligations. As a signatory to the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the UK is responsible for ensuring that China fulfills its promise to allow autonomy in Hong Kong. For Jimmy Lai specifically, he is a British passport holder and therefore a British citizen. Keir Starmer is as responsible for Jimmy Lai’s safety as he is for any other British citizen unjustly detained abroad.
Jimmy Lai is not the only British citizen being held in a foreign prison. Estimates are that there are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/nov/24/its-about-political-will-is-the-foreign-office-failing-britons-detained-abroad">thousands of Brits</a> detained or arrested in foreign countries. Jagtar Singh Johal has been imprisoned in India since 2017 after he confessed to involvement in a murder after police tortured a confession out of him. Every day that Jimmy Lai, Jagtar Singh Johal, and many others sit in prison is a day that Starmer is failing his citizenry.
What can Starmer do to help people like Jimmy Lai? For starters, he can stop treating the Chinese government like a friendly nation. The Jimmy Lai conviction is one of many examples where Starmer has been soft on China. His recent visit to Beijing <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2j04lk83zo">focused</a> on trade and tourism, but Starmer claims that he <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15543421/Keir-Starmer-accused-monumental-diplomatic-failure-China-jails.html">raised</a> the issue of Lai’s release when he was in China. This casual approach isn’t going to cut it. Unjust imprisonment is not some tertiary issue in diplomacy. What good are reduced tariffs on whiskey if British citizens aren’t safe when they travel to China?
If Keir Starmer wants to free Jimmy Lai and the other dissidents in Hong Kong, he needs to get tough on the Chinese government. First, trade negotiations need to stop until Lai is released from prison. The UK is failing its obligations to Hong Kong; now is the time to change course. Second, Starmer needs to shut down the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/world/europe/chinese-embassy-london-starmer.html">Chinese mega-embassy</a> project in London. Not only does the mega-embassy put critical communication cables at risk, but its construction will also allow the CCP to expand the transnational repression of other Hong Kong democracy advocates living in London. If Britain can’t protect its citizens abroad, the very least it can do is protect them on British territory.
Keir Starmer’s tenure at 10 Downing Street has been a disaster for a <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-epstein-files-threaten-to-topple-keir-starmers-labour-government/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">variety of reasons</a>, but his handling of the Jimmy Lai arrest only adds fuel to the fire. While Starmer’s days as PM might be limited, he can right this wrong if he acts quickly. By securing Jimmy Lai&#8217;s freedom, Keir Starmer will establish Britain’s diplomatic influence and potentially serve as a deterrent to other regimes hoping to illegally detain British citizens.
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<a href="https://www.joinyv.org/talent/matthew-cookson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Matt Cookson</a> is an alumnus of the Young Voices Contributor Program and was a Middle East History and Policy Fellow with Young Voices. He also works in the supply chain for a U.S. Defense Contractor. His commentary has appeared in the Mises Institute, Real Clear Politics, the National Interest, Providence Magazine, China Source, and the Idaho Freedom Foundation. You can follow him on X @<a href="https://x.com/MattCookson95" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MattCookson95</a> and Substack @<a href="https://substack.com/@thewaythecookiecrumbles?utm_source=user-menu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thewaythecookiecrumbles</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Activists In L.A. Rally Outside Chinese Consulate For Imprisoned Hong Kong Media Entrepreneur Jimmy Lai

As Jimmy Lai’s Daughter Attends Trump’s Address, Britain Faces An Uncomfortable Question

Donald Trump

England

Great Britain

Hong Kong

Jimmy Lai

Keir Starmer

Prison

State of the Union

United Kingdom

Mayor Eileen Wang of Arcadia, California, declined to comment on her former fiancé’s conviction at the first City Council meeting since his sentencing, despite previously acknowledging their relationship.
Yaoning “Mike” Sun, 65, was <a href="https://apnews.com/article/china-election-interference-california-yaoning-mike-sun-d514395039bea63a8c7b8814d29d1aaa">sentenced</a> on February 10 to four years in federal prison after pleading guilty in October 2025 to acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China without notifying the U.S. attorney general, as required by law. His guilty plea was entered and sentence imposed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Prosecutors <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/political-operative-sentenced-48-months-federal-prison-acting-covert-agent-peoples-republic">alleged</a> that from at least 2022, when Wang said she became a Democrat, to January 2024, Sun “knowingly acted within the United States as an agent of the PRC and officials of its government — without notifying the Attorney General,” a violation of federal law designed to expose foreign influence operations. 
Sun <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/chino-hills-covert-agent-china-political-advisor-yaoning-sun-john-chen/">worked</a> as the campaign advisor to a candidate identified in court filings as “Individual 1,” who was elected to a Southern California city council seat in November 2022. While the individual was not named in court papers, Sun was listed as a campaign treasurer for Wang, then an Arcadia City Council candidate, on a 2022 campaign statement filing.
During a December 2022 Arcadia City Council meeting, Wang publicly praised Sun while referring to him as her fiancé. “To my fiancé, Mike Sun, who walked streets with me every single day, who is a real leader of me,” she said at the time. 
After Sun was indicted and charged, Wang sought to distance herself from that earlier characterization. In September 2025, she said, “No. 1, he’s not my fiancé. Whoever wants to say he’s my former fiancé, please prove it.” 
Sun’s conviction stems from what prosecutors describe as extensive covert activity on behalf of the Chinese government, including the dissemination of pro-Beijing propaganda and surveillance of individuals and groups that China viewed as adversarial. According to federal prosecutors, his duties included efforts to counter pro-Taiwan independence advocacy and influence public opinion through a purported local news site. 
According to the Department of Justice, Sun &#8220;closely surveilled the then-President of Taiwan during her April 2023 visit to Southern California, reporting directly to PRC officials on her movements.&#8221; 
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg condemned Sun’s activities, saying he “received and executed taskings from Chinese government officials, distorted our public discourse by disseminating Chinese propaganda, and surveilled groups in the United States that China viewed as threatening its interests as part of a campaign of intimidation.” 
Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division also released a statement at the time of sentencing: “When Americans vote for elected officials, they expect them to represent the interests of their constituents — not those of a foreign adversary like the Chinese government,” he said. “By exploiting his position as a campaign advisor, Yaoning Sun attempted to undermine our political processes and democratic institutions for the benefit of the Chinese Communist Party.” 
At the council meeting following Sun’s sentencing, Wang declined to address questions about his conviction or their prior relationship. Wang has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the case, and prosecutors have not charged her with any offense. However, her prior public references to Sun — and subsequent denials of that relationship — have drawn scrutiny in local and national media coverage. 
Federal prosecutions of unregistered foreign agents are part of broader U.S. counterintelligence efforts to stem covert influence operations on domestic political processes. Criminal filings in this case made clear that individuals acting at the direction of foreign governments are required by law to register with the U.S. Attorney General, a requirement Sun failed to meet. 
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Washington Prepares For Arrival Of Chinese President Hu Jintao

From City Hall Praise To Silent Treatment: Dem Mayor’s China Agent Problem

California

Communist China

Espionage

Los Angeles County

Politics

WASHINGTON—When President Donald Trump heads to Beijing this spring, he&#8217;ll have the opportunity to do what pretty much no one else in the world can: convince Chinese President Xi Jinping to free Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy newspaper publisher and media tycoon imprisoned by the Chinese Communist Party.
The 78-year-old Lai was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison under a national security law used by the Chinese Communist Party to crack down on dissenters. At his age, and with his declining health, the CCP&#8217;s sentence means he&#8217;ll die in prison.
Lai is a Chinese-born British citizen who published &#8220;Apple Daily&#8221; in Hong Kong from 1995 to 2021. Chinese authorities arrested top executives at the publication and froze its assets in 2021, and, after a two-year trial and five-year detention, Lai was convicted in December 2025 of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and publish seditious material.
Authorities paint him as &#8220;the mastermind and behind-the-scenes manipulator,&#8221; celebrating the 20-year-sentence.
His daughter, who advocates on her father&#8217;s behalf in the United States, describes him very differently. In an interview with The Daily Wire, Claire Lai praised her father&#8217;s courage in the face of oppression. She shared that he mails her letters from prison — letters that include prayers of deep faith and acceptance, offering his sufferings up to Jesus Christ and encouraging his fellow prisoners to do the same.
&#8220;From the very first day I went to visit him, I remember I was very emotional,&#8221; Claire told The Daily Wire. Her father comforted her, she says, by telling her that &#8220;he&#8217;s in God&#8217;s good hands, and he&#8217;ll find ways to serve him from behind bars.&#8221; 
&#8220;I know that God will continue to give him the strength to persevere in faith,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We need to persevere in fighting for his freedom.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1041709" style="width: 429px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/?attachment_id=1041709" rel="attachment wp-att-1041709"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1041709" class="wp-image-1041709 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-11.59.53-AM-419x576.png" alt="Claire Lai with her father Jimmy Lai. " width="419" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-11.59.53-AM-419x576.png 419w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-11.59.53-AM-218x300.png 218w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-11.59.53-AM-768x1055.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-11.59.53-AM.png 1026w" sizes=" (max-width: 419px) 100vw, 419px" /></a>Claire Lai with her father Jimmy Lai.</div>
Trump has said that he will do everything he can to save Lai. He will head to Beijing in April, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/04/trump-and-chinas-xi-speak-by-phone-ahead-of-beijing-trip-00764343">POLITICO reports</a> (though the White House says dates have not yet been finalized), where Lai&#8217;s family hopes the president will make the case for their father&#8217;s freedom.
“I feel so badly,” Trump said in December after Lai&#8217;s conviction. “I spoke to President Xi about it, and I asked to consider his release. He’s not well. He’s an older man and he’s not well, so I did put that request out. We’ll see what happens.”
On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the Hong Kong High Court’s decision to sentence Lai to 20 years, calling it &#8220;an unjust and tragic conclusion to this case.&#8221; Rubio urged the authorities to grant Lai humanitarian parole, arguing that Lai and his family &#8220;have suffered enough.&#8221;
&#8220;It shows the world that Beijing will go to extraordinary lengths to silence those who advocate fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong, casting aside the international commitments Beijing made in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration,&#8221; Rubio said.
Asked by The Daily Wire about Lai&#8217;s fate during the White House press briefing Tuesday, Karoline Leavitt <a href="https://x.com/realDailyWire/status/2021301791229411718?s=20">suggested that the president may advocate for Lai</a> in April.
“This is something I&#8217;ve heard the President advocate for, both publicly and privately,&#8221; she told The Daily Wire. &#8220;I had the honor of being in that meeting with President Trump and President Xi in South Korea that took place, and this was brought up by the President himself. It is important to him, and he looks forward to visiting China in April.”
Lai&#8217;s daughter is incredibly grateful for the strong American interest in her father&#8217;s plight and hopeful that American intervention might save her father.
&#8220;We are extremely grateful,&#8221; she said, &#8220;to [Trump] and to his administration, [that has] a proven track record of freeing those [who] were unjustly detained abroad and doing so with a high degree of success. We are just hopeful that our father will be one of them.&#8221; 
Lai&#8217;s friends and family have highlighted his plight for years. Claire&#8217;s brother Sebastian Lai lives in London, where he leads the international campaign to free his father. Her mother remains in China and was present at Jimmy&#8217;s sentencing on Monday.
In interviews, they describe how he was arrested and detained, and forced to spend more than 1,800 days in solitary confinement.
China&#8217;s 2020 National Security Law is so vaguely worded and so arbitrarily applied that Claire Lai knows she could face retribution for speaking out in her father&#8217;s defense while in China. She has lived in the United Kingdom and the United States for the past few years as she begs the world to help save her father.
She takes great solace in her Catholic faith, which she shares with both her mother and her father. Jimmy Lai is a Catholic convert with a deep love for Jesus Christ. His daughter shares that he used to draw pictures of Jesus Christ on the cross for other prisoners until he was told by his prison guards that he was no longer permitted to do so.
From prison, he writes to his daughter, offering her prayers of comfort and solace.
&#8220;The day that [British Prime Minister Keir Starmer] flew to China, I was feeling quite uneasy,&#8221; she reflected to The Daily Wire, recalling the day that Starmer went to China to meet with President Xi. She went to mass at Immaculate Conception Church, a parish in Washington D.C., and prayed for the strength to accept whatever happened to her father.  
&#8220;A few days later I got a letter from Dad,&#8221; she shared, &#8220;and in his letters he sends me his prayers and he basically echoed what I was feeling in that moment&#8230;he was in our Lord&#8217;s good hands.&#8221; 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/?attachment_id=1041967" rel="attachment wp-att-1041967"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1041967 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/IMG_3081-1024x360.png" alt="" width="1024" height="360" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/IMG_3081-1024x360.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/IMG_3081-300x106.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/IMG_3081-768x270.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/IMG_3081.png 1199w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
&#8220;I think that that&#8217;s what has seen him through the last few years,&#8221; she said. &#8220;And at times it&#8217;s really just our good Lord which has seen him through the bad days.&#8221; 
Claire Lai shared copies of her father&#8217;s prayers exclusively with The Daily Wire, prayers in which Jimmy Lai surrenders his future to Jesus Christ, asking Jesus Christ to &#8220;work in me and through me.&#8221;
<blockquote>
You are the all-seeing, all-knowing God. Your eyes, oh Lord, are in every place&#8230;You are present and conscious of all I think, every deed or act, however slight, every word, however quick&#8230;every thought of my heart, however secret, however momentary. However forgotten, you see, O Lord, you see and note down&#8230; “Whither shall I go from your Spirit?” (Ps 139:7) I am in your hands, O Lord, absolutely.
</blockquote>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/?attachment_id=1041969" rel="attachment wp-att-1041969"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-1041969 size-large aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/IMG_3079-821x576.png" alt="" width="821" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/IMG_3079-821x576.png 821w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/IMG_3079-300x210.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/IMG_3079-768x539.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/IMG_3079.png 1282w" sizes=" (max-width: 821px) 100vw, 821px" /></a>
In another prayer, Jimmy Lai acknowledges the longevity of his imprisonment thus far, offering his sickness and confusion up for &#8220;some great end which is quite beyond us&#8221; and arguing that Jesus Christ &#8220;does nothing in vain.&#8221;
<blockquote>
We are all created to His glory. We are created to do His will. Therefore: I will trust him&#8230;if I am sick; my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if in sorrow, my sorrow may serve him. My sickness or my perplexity or my sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end which is beyond us. He does nothing in vain. Lord, deign to fulfill your high purposes in me whatever they may be. Work in me and through me.
Cheers, Dad.
</blockquote>
And in yet another letter, he tells his daughter that his suffering over the past few years has brought him closer to God.
<blockquote>
I am actually most grateful for God to have put me through this suffering in order for me to get closer to His presence. What a joy and treasure for this life and next. God’s action confounds us but always turns out to be marvellous for us.
</blockquote>
Lai&#8217;s daughter is also deeply religious, mentioning multiple Catholic saints during her conversation with The Daily Wire, including Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest imprisoned by Nazis in Auschwitz who offered to die in the place of another prisoner. When she is particularly worried about her father, she shared, she goes to mass in the evenings and receives the Eucharist, which is a huge source of comfort to her.
&#8220;In that moment I know what Maximilian Kolbe meant,&#8221; she said, quoting the Catholic martyr, who is remembered saying: “If angels would be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion.”
&#8220;It&#8217;s exactly what I needed, and I think it was our good Lord giving me comfort. I don&#8217;t think anyone can convince me otherwise. I know he&#8217;s giving my father strength to persist in faith.&#8221;
For Catholics, receiving the Eucharist at Mass is of pivotal importance, since Catholics believe that receiving the Eucharist allows the faithful to be closely united with Jesus Christ himself. But for about two and a half years, Claire says, her father was denied the Eucharist in prison. The Chinese government told them that he was receiving the Eucharist regularly, but she insists they were lying.
&#8220;I counted,&#8221; she said. &#8220;He received it, in 2.5 years, a total of 11 times. That is not regular.&#8221; 
<div id="attachment_1041687" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/?attachment_id=1041687" rel="attachment wp-att-1041687"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1041687" class="wp-image-1041687 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-456234504-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-456234504-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-456234504-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-456234504-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-456234504.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy supporter Jimmy Lai attends a rally near the government headquarters in Hong Kong on September 28, 2014.  (Photo by ALEX OGLE/AFP via Getty Images)</div>
Outside pressure occasionally leads to better treatment for her father, but over the past five years, his treatment has gone from bad to worse. She speaks to him through physical letters that they mail to each other. She writes to him about once a week, but often doesn&#8217;t receive his responses for up to a month as they are processed.
His health is failing him. He has been diabetic for over 30 years, and throughout his imprisonment, Claire and the rest of his family have watched Jimmy&#8217;s pre-existing health conditions worsen due to a lack of care. She says his blood sugar is checked once every three weeks, and he&#8217;s developed new health conditions — heart issues, blood pressure problems, an enlarged spleen, and more.
The United Kingdom and the United Nations have requested that the Chinese government send an independent consultant in to check on him, she says, but that has been rejected.
&#8220;We are extremely worried for his health and the conditions in which he&#8217;s kept,&#8221; she said.
&#8220;His body is failing, but he is such a spirited man.&#8221; 
<div id="attachment_1041713" style="width: 856px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/?attachment_id=1041713" rel="attachment wp-att-1041713"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1041713" class="wp-image-1041713 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-11.57.52-AM-846x576.png" alt="Claire Lai with her parents. " width="846" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-11.57.52-AM-846x576.png 846w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-11.57.52-AM-300x204.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-11.57.52-AM-768x523.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-11.57.52-AM-1536x1046.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-10-at-11.57.52-AM.png 1924w" sizes=" (max-width: 846px) 100vw, 846px" /></a>Claire Lai with her parents.</div>
Jimmy Lai is imprisoned with a number of other political prisoners in Hong Kong, his daughter shared. Many of them are not Catholic or even Christian, and Jimmy has sought to convert his fellow prisoners by drawing the crucifixion for them.
&#8220;On the other side, he would write instructions on how to pray, sometimes what to read, and sometimes he would ask me to get certain books, or get the Bishop Barron&#8217;s &#8216;Word on Fire&#8217; for them,&#8221; she explained, referring to the work of Bishop Robert Barron. 
&#8220;One day, the guards told him that he has to stop sending it to prisoners because some people have decided to convert as a result,&#8221; she said sadly. 
There was one agnostic prisoner, imprisoned a few months after her father, who was struggling intensely with his new life in prison. His distress finally prompted him to ask Jimmy for help learning how to pray, she said, and the two men began exchanging letters back and forth. Her father drew a picture of Jesus Christ crucified for the agnostic prisoner, telling him, according to his daughter, that &#8220;when the suffering gets too much for you, just pretend like you&#8217;re hiding under his feet, and offering your suffering up to him.&#8221; 
&#8220;That would make it all better,&#8221; Claire says, &#8220;because&#8230;if you&#8217;re looking for God&#8217;s grace, you really don&#8217;t have to look far.&#8221; 
The other prisoner wasn&#8217;t immediately convinced. But one day, Claire says, her father got a letter from the prisoner, saying: &#8220;I know what you mean now.&#8221;
&#8220;That really touched me,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I have always been Catholic, but if I was agnostic and I was going through a whole different, and intense suffering, I&#8217;m not sure if I could have done that, but he did.&#8221;
That is the legacy Jimmy Lai will be remembered for in his Hong Kong prison, by his family, and by his many supporters throughout the world: a man who prayed through his suffering and taught others to pray with him.
His daughter is still hopeful that he will be freed. Yet, at the same time, she knows that the grief-stricken past few years have taught her exactly what he wished.
&#8220;At the start of his imprisonment he said all he wanted was for us, his children, to see the reality of the world through the grace and mercy of God,&#8221; she said. &#8220;And I am reminded that is what he always did.&#8221;

Jimmy Lai Collage

Why Donald Trump’s Visit To Beijing Could Decide Jimmy Lai’s Fate

Marco Rubio

My office decorations are mostly standard-issue: pictures of my family, a diploma, a couple of concert posters to trick people into thinking I’m fun. But no one notices them at first, as everyone’s eyes inevitably go to the portrait above my desk.
It’s impossible to miss: a big, professionally-framed picture of a Joey Chestnut, smiling triumphantly behind a pile of hot dogs after reclaiming the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest championship from Takeru Kobayashi on July 4, 2007.
Joey came into my possession courtesy of my first boss in Washington, who in the midst of an office redecorating effort reluctantly decided to part with what he called a symbol of American triumph.
I think about that every time I glance up in the middle of the day and see the champ looking back at me, tongue sticking out and eyes wide with the thrill of victory. So you can imagine my disappointment when I learned China had bought Nathan’s.
On Thursday, Smithfield <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nathans-famous-hot-dogs-smithfield-merger-9927a1f0fde1ff32c2f95dc4949d3dfd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that it would purchase the iconic hot dog franchise for $450 million. Of course, “Smithfield” isn’t really Smithfield anymore. The Virginia-based meat producer was itself purchased in 2013 by the Shuanghui Group, which has since renamed itself the more innocuous sounding WH Group.
The WH Group is a Chinese company through and through, which means it is, for all intents and purposes, an arm of the Chinese Communist Party. Its leadership is full of <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2024/01/25/chinese-communist-party-landowner-pork/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CCP bigwigs</a>, who have put the company at the forefront of China’s efforts to purchase American farmland — a major <a href="https://www.americafirstpolicy.com/issues/national-security-threat-of-china-dominated-u.s-agricultural-sectors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">national security threat</a>. At its peak, WH Group owned around 150,000 acres of American land across 29 states.
WH Group has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/07/08/us-china-farmland-ban-national-security/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reduced</a> its American land holdings in response to the Trump administration’s push to ban Chinese companies from buying up American farms. But it still has around 85,000 acres of this country in its possession, a collection to which it can now add Nathan’s original Coney Island location, still standing where it was built in 1916.
It’s fitting that the first Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest of Zohran Mamdani’s mayoralty will be sponsored by the CCP. America’s biggest foe wrapping its tentacles around a symbol of American freedom founded by a Polish Jew. Ms. Rachel <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ms-rachel-says-she-liked-free-america-from-the-jews-comment-by-accident?author=Brecca+Stoll&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Ms.+Rachel+Says+She+Liked+%E2%80%98Free+America+From+The+Jews%E2%80%99+Comment+By+Accident" target="_blank" rel="noopener">must be thrilled</a>.
It never ends well when foreigners take over American institutions — just look what happened when the Belgians <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bud-light-tries-to-woo-back-customers-with-new-commercial-starring-shane-gillis?author=Amanda+Harding&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Bud+Light+Tries+To+Woo+Back+Customers+With+New+Commercial+Starring+Shane+Gillis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bought</a> Anheuser-Busch.
When my old boss called the Joey Chestnut picture a portrait of American triumph, he wasn’t just talking about an American reclaiming the title from a Japanese competitor. He was talking about an American dominating in an extremely American pastime, at a quintessentially American location, on the day we celebrate American independence.
Nathan’s is about as American as it gets. Nathan Handwerker opened his Brooklyn stand in 1916, four years after coming to America. He gained a foothold by selling cheaper products than his competitor and grew his little stand into a global empire. By the time Major League Baseball named Nathan’s its <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/nathan-s-famous-is-official-hot-dog-of-mlb-c221240194" target="_blank" rel="noopener">official hot dog</a> in 2017, they had already become synonymous with ball games, barbecues, and the American dream.
When at the height of the Second World War E.B. White <a href="https://www.npr.org/2012/11/07/164631081/author-e-b-white-on-the-meaning-of-democracy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> that democracy was “the mustard on the hot dog,” he was almost certainly envisioning one of Nathan&#8217;s Famous kosher-style franks.
Even liberalism’s court stenographer, Aaron Sorkin, understands the centrality of Nathan’s to the American image. In a 2002 episode of “The West Wing,” the White House Chief of Staff defends the president’s decision to assassinate a terrorist leader by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOSxwFtBNww" target="_blank" rel="noopener">telling his emissary</a>: “To sweep all fifty states, the President would only need to do two things: blow the sultan&#8217;s brains out in Times Square, then walk across the street to Nathan&#8217;s and buy a hot dog.”
It’s impossible to watch that scene now and not think of President Donald Trump’s now famous declaration that he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and not lose voters. It’s also hard to think that our first outer borough president relishes the sight of China taking over a beloved American institution.
The overarching goal of Trump’s political career has been to reverse American decline by any means necessary. He’s touched on this aim in merely every speech he’s ever given, including his <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/remarks/2025/01/the-inaugural-address/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Second Inaugural Address</a>:
<blockquote>From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer. During every single day of the Trump administration, I will, very simply, put America first.</blockquote>
Whether striking narcoterrorists or purchasing Greenland, Trump has shown he’ll stop at nothing to revive American greatness. Keeping Nathan’s in American hands seems like an easy way to advance his America First agenda and put the Red Dragon at bay. Surely it doesn’t hurt that Trump once called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nathans-hot-dogs-faces-backlash-over-trump-fundraiser-report-2018-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nathan’s chairman</a> Howard Lorber one of his two best friends.
So come on, Mr. President. What’s one more volley in the trade wars if it means saving an American institution? Imagine that swooping green logo towering over the first American hot dog stand in Nuuk. This is our time for choosing.

Joey Chestnut (L) of San Jose, Californi

American Travesty: A Chinese Company Just Bought Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs.

Greenland

New York City

Zohran Mamdani

The world today stands at a historical turning point.
Over the past two decades, the West has shown unmistakable signs of decline. Internally, it has lost confidence, been corroded by left-wing Marxist ideology, and been overwhelmed by massive illegal migration. Externally, a new “Axis of Evil” is ascendant, the anti-American alliance of repressive regimes including China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea.
President Donald Trump understands the threat of this alliance — and China in particular — more than his predecessors ever did. And he realizes China cannot be defeated in isolation. It must be strategically surrounded, economically strained, and stripped of its allies.
Armed with this understanding, Trump has moved with speed and clarity so far in his second term. Upon returning to office, Trump reignited the tariff war against China, deliberately targeting Beijing at a moment of extreme vulnerability, after Xi Jinping’s draconian COVID policies had already crippled China’s economy.
Then came decisive blows against China’s key partners.
In late June, Trump authorized the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities. In September, the U.S. military began striking narco-terrorist vessels operating out of Venezuela. This campaign culminated in the capture of Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026, shattering China’s and Russia’s primary foothold in Latin America.
The effects were immediate and dramatic. Thousands of Venezuelan political prisoners were released, achieving in days what decades of U.N. resolutions and human-rights advocacy had failed to accomplish. At the same time, widespread anti-regime protests that erupted in Iran in late December began to intensify.
Reports have emerged that Iranian demonstrators openly appealed to Trump for help. Trump publicly expressed support for the protesters, telling them, “help is on the way,” and warning Iranian leaders, “you better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting too.”
Beijing is watching with horror, knowing the same could one day happen in China. What we are witnessing is the rapid unraveling of the New Axis of Evil.
For the Chinese Communist Party, unrest in Iran and regime collapse in Venezuela represent strategic disasters. China is losing key partners, critical energy access, and geopolitical leverage — along with up to $100 billion in Venezuelan investments that are now effectively unrecoverable. Worse, these crises expose Beijing’s inability to protect or stabilize its allied dictatorships.
The dominoes do not stop there. Without Venezuelan oil subsidies, Cuba — the longest-lasting communist regime in the Western Hemisphere — cannot survive. North Korea, effectively a CCP client state, faces an even grimmer future as China’s own economy deteriorates. Russia, the last major pillar of this bloc, is bogged down in its costly war in Ukraine and increasingly dependent on Chinese economic lifelines — lifelines that are themselves fraying.
After the Maduro capture, the American Left condemned Trump for violating international law. They fail to grasp a fundamental reality: international law has already collapsed. The greatest rule-breaker is Communist China, which violated nearly every international rule and norm on its path to superpower status. Trump does not seek to restrain rule-breakers with fantasies. He seeks to dismantle the ecosystems that sustain them.
This is the essence of the Trump Doctrine: sever the links that allow repressive regimes to support one another, clear hostile powers out of America’s strategic backyard, and prevent regional conflicts from metastasizing into global catastrophe. From Latin America to the Arctic, Trump has moved to block Chinese and Russian encroachment — including openly asserting American strategic interests in Greenland, which Beijing and Moscow had already penetrated while Denmark stood idle.
And the president is just getting started. Days into the new year, Trump proposed the creation of a “Dream Military,” calling for a 2027 defense budget of $1.5 trillion — an increase of more than 66%.
By raising the military and technological bar across the board, the United States forces China into an impossible choice: fall further behind, or attempt to keep pace and cripple itself through runaway military spending, technological isolation, and economic slowdown. The Soviet Union faced this very dilemma — and collapsed.
Trump does not need to defeat the CCP in battle. He only needs to force it into a competition it cannot afford.
And that is how empires fall. From within.
Xi Van Fleet and Yu Jie are authors of the forthcoming book “Made in America: The Hidden History of How the U.S. Enabled Communist China and Created Our Greatest Threat.”
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The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
READ MORE:
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/i-lived-in-the-communist-world-zohran-mamdani-dreams-of-its-worse-than-you-could-imagine?author=Xi+Van+Fleet&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=I+Lived+In+The+Communist+World+Zohran+Mamdani+Dreams+Of.+It%E2%80%99s+Worse+Than+You+Could+Imagine.">I Lived In The Communist World Zohran Mamdani Dreams Of. It’s Worse Than You Could Imagine.</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/license-to-kill-what-turns-normal-people-to-political-violence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Maoists, Part I: License To Kill: What Turns Normal People To Political Violence?</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-wheel-of-misfortune-victims-victimhood-and-victimization?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Xi+Van+Fleet+and+Sasha+Gong&amp;category=Opinion&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=The+Wheel+Of+Misfortune%3A+Victims%2C+Victimhood%2C+And+Victimization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Maoists, Part II: The Wheel Of Misfortune: Victims, Victimhood, And Victimization</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/from-red-guard-to-blue-hair-why-leftists-destroy-womanhood?author=Xi+Van+Fleet+and+Sasha+Gong&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=From+Red+Guard+To+Blue+Hair%3A+Why+Leftists+Destroy+Womanhood" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Maoists, Part III: From Red Guard To Blue Hair: Why Leftists Destroy Womanhood</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/proletarian-profanity-like-communists-democrats-want-to-trap-voters-in-a-linguistic-ghetto" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Maoists, Part IV: Proletarian Profanity: Why Democrats Want To Trap Voters In A Linguistic Ghetto</a>
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/erasing-history-the-real-cultural-marxism?author=Xi+Van+Fleet+and+Sasha+Gong&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Erasing+History%3A+The+Real+Cultural+Marxism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Maoists, Part V: Erasing History: The Real Cultural Marxism</a></h4>
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Donald Trump/Xi Jinping

How Trump Can Defeat China Without Firing A Single Shot

Iran

Venezuela

Imagine if, today, Hong Kong judges declared imprisoned media mogul Jimmy Lai innocent of sedition.
Such a decision would have rehabilitated the reputation of the Chinese Communist Party, which governs Hong Kong. It would have shown that under Xi Jinping, China is capable of rendering justice, a safe place for investors, and a worthy member of the community of nations. 
Of course, none of that happened. On Monday, Lai was declared guilty in a Beijing-controlled Hong Kong court that has long since ceased to behave like a real institution of justice.
This piece could have been written months ago. The verdict was preordained. The performance has been elaborate. And the point could not be more explicit: China intends to demonstrate that even a man of extraordinary achievement, wealth, international attention, and moral courage can be ground down when he refuses to bow.
The question that now confronts us in the West is whether we will continue pretending not to notice.
For nearly four years — over 1,500 days — Jimmy Lai has been held by one of the world’s most powerful states for the “crime” of publishing a newspaper and advocating liberties that were once taken for granted in Hong Kong.
The machinery of repression has been draped in legal garments: national security charges, “collusion with foreign entities,” and a farcical, 140-day trial before three government-approved judges sitting without a jury.
But no one observing this process can confuse it with justice. Lai’s real offense is moral, not legal. He refused to be silent. And more remarkably, he refused to leave Hong Kong, even though he holds British citizenship.
His suffering exposes a larger crisis than Beijing intends. The West’s response — or lack thereof — has revealed a distressing hollowing out of the very values we claim to defend.
It is fashionable in diplomatic circles to speak of Jimmy Lai as a symbol: a symbol of press freedom, a symbol of Hong Kong’s struggle, a symbol of China’s tightening grip. But symbols, by their nature, can be admired at a distance. They do not make demands. They do not interrupt trade deals, unsettle foreign ministries, or challenge ecclesial diplomacy.
Jimmy Lai is not a symbol. He is a man: a husband, father, entrepreneur, Christian convert, and a friend. His imprisonment is not merely a geopolitical incident. It is a moral scandal. And to ignore it is to participate in it.
In a sense, the trial is his. But in a deeper sense, it is ours.
Western democracies often proclaim that human dignity precedes the state, that rights derive not from a party but from a higher moral order. Jimmy Lai believes this too — indeed, he has lived it more courageously than many who declaim it from the safety of parliamentary benches or editorial pages.
What is being tested now is not his resolve, but ours. So far, we are failing.
There have been statements, to be sure. The occasional speech. A scattered diplomatic demarche. But from most governments — and all too often from global institutions that exist to defend human rights — the silence has been strategic. Clear speech about Jimmy Lai would require clear policies toward Beijing. It would impose costs. And modern democracies have grown adept at identifying moral obligations they can safely ignore.
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The Vatican’s silence has been perhaps the most dispiriting. Hong Kong’s elderly cardinal, Joseph Zen, who has stood with Jimmy in the courtroom, sees his Church’s reticence for what it is: a misreading of the Chinese Communist Party by leaders who know persecuted communists but not communist persecutors.
This silence is not neutrality. It is complicity.
The West Kowloon courtroom where Jimmy’s trial unfolded is modern enough: glass boxes, metal detectors, and a gaudy display of armed police meant to intimidate observers. The judges, bewigged in the British manner, give the proceedings the solemn appearance of common law.
But the substance is pure fiat. The prosecution spent 52 days marching the court through subscription lists, emails, tweets, and circulation figures — routine journalism recast as treason.
Apple Daily, the outlet Lai founded, sold a million copies at its height. The state now treats that popularity as evidence of criminal conspiracy. Jimmy steadily denied inciting violence or calling for sanctions, insisting instead that Apple Daily gave voice to Hong Kongers’ desire for freedom.
I watched him from the gallery, sitting behind glass, frail after years in solitary confinement. His wife, Teresa, gripped her rosary. Cardinal Zen, 93 next month and himself under tight state restrictions, sat beside us. When Jimmy caught my eye and nodded, I traced the sign of the cross. His eyes filled with tears.
This is not the behavior of a man plotting insurrection. It is the quiet dignity of conscience under persecution.
The transformation of Hong Kong is part of a wider crisis within China itself. Since the National Security Law took effect in 2020, over 300 people have been arrested for political offenses; 45 pro-democracy activists have received sentences of up to ten years simply for organizing primaries. Beijing recently expanded the NSL to include vague categories like “external interference,” ensuring that any political dissent can be retroactively criminalized.
This is the portrait of a regime tightening control because it has lost the capacity to inspire.
Hong Kong’s extraordinary success was built on precisely the principles Beijing now fears: rule of law, open markets, free expression. Its people created a global entrepôt through ingenuity and liberty.
These habits of freedom do not vanish easily. If mainland Chinese — from tycoons to factory workers — were ever allowed to see that prosperity and liberty are twins, the Party’s foundation would tremble even if the Chinese people (and the world) would prosper.
Perhaps that is why Jimmy Lai is so dangerous.
Now that the official verdict has been handed down, Beijing will claim it is a matter of law. It is not. It is a matter of fear. The CCP — an empire of 1.4 billion — fears a single newspaper publisher because he embodies something they cannot permit: a free man.
Jimmy Lai could have escaped all this. He had the wealth, the passport, and the opportunity. But he stayed because Hong Kong “gave me my freedom,” he said, and he felt obliged to defend it. In this, he resembles other prisoners of conscience: Mandela, Solzhenitsyn, and the unnamed young man who stood before a tank on a Beijing boulevard 36 years ago.
The West has the power to elevate the cost of holding Jimmy Lai. The United Kingdom, of which Lai is a citizen, could apply targeted sanctions. The United States could treat his case with the urgency it affords other political prisoners. The Vatican could speak with the clarity and courage of its own martyrs. And ordinary citizens can demand that their governments act.
Silence, too, is an action.
The British educator Arnold Toynbee once wrote that civilizations do not die from murder but from suicide. The test of our generation is whether we are still willing to defend the principles on which our free societies are built — or whether we will barter them for trade access and diplomatic convenience.
The world will watch Monday’s verdict with predictable outrage. But outrage without action is merely performance. If we abandon Jimmy Lai, we lose more than one man’s liberty. We lose our own moral clarity. We forget what freedom looks like, sounds like, and demands of us.
Jimmy has repeatedly said that the truth will prevail, even if only “in the kingdom of God.” Let us prove that it can prevail in Hong Kong as well — and that the free world still remembers how to act like one.
***
Fr. Robert Sirico is a Catholic priest and co-founder and President Emeritus of the Acton Institute (<a href="https://www.acton.org/">www.acton.org</a>).
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Hong Kong Jimmy Lai National Security Law Court Case

Jimmy Lai’s Guilty Verdict — And The West’s

Christian Persecution

Christianity

Editor&#8217;s Note: This is the second installment in the five-part series “American Maoists: Warnings From The Cultural Revolution.&#8221;
In <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/license-to-kill-what-turns-normal-people-to-political-violence">Part I</a>, Xi Van Fleet and Sasha Gong — both activists, scholars, and survivors of Mao&#8217;s communist uprising — explain how extremist movements plant the seeds for revolution by slowly acculturating ordinary citizens to political violence.
In today&#8217;s installment, the authors explore something all too familiar to anyone who&#8217;s seen the American Left in action: the endless cycle of victimization, which fuels perpetual revolution.
***
History is full of paradoxes. None is more striking than the revolutionary promise to rescue the downtrodden, only to end in destruction for all.
From the French Revolution to Mao’s Cultural Revolution, the pattern is familiar: revolutionaries first elevate “the victims,” granting them moral superiority. Those newly anointed victims are then encouraged to victimize their designated enemies. What begins in the name of liberation almost always degenerates into tyranny.
It is a story as old as revolution itself. The Jacobins invoked the poor and the persecuted, then set the guillotine to work on nobles, priests, and eventually their own comrades. Lenin vowed to free workers and peasants from Tsarist oppression, only to unleash the Red Terror that consumed millions, including many of his followers.
Mao empowered the youths to denounce their teachers, parents, and neighbors. In those frenzied years, almost everyone alternated between being a victim and being a victimizer, and frequently embodied both roles simultaneously. As Georges Danton, himself a leading figure of the French Revolution, devoured by the machine he helped build, lamented: “Revolution devours its own children.”
In China, we witnessed this cycle firsthand. The story of Bian Zhongyun, the first teacher beaten to death by her students in August 1966, illustrates it in all its cruelty.
Bian had been a faithful revolutionary. She joined the Communist Party in 1941 and later helped carry out land reform in a village where she was involved in the stoning to death of four landlords — including a woman who once cared for her child. She was later rewarded with the post of principal at Beijing’s most prestigious girls’ high school, which primarily served the children of CCP elites.
Yet her students, daughters of top Party leaders, killed her within hours in the first frenzy of the Cultural Revolution. They were fueled by Mao’s call to “rebel.” That month alone, thousands of teachers across China were killed. Millions more were publicly humiliated and beaten.
What became of the new victimizers? After serving as Mao’s instruments, the rebelling youths were discarded: the girls were sent into exile in China’s remote regions for grueling labor. The cycle turned anew. 
This wheel of misfortune follows a grim logic. Authorities pick assumed “victims” and designate enemies. The chosen victims are given power beyond the law, while enemies are stripped of any protection. Victimhood becomes not a misfortune but a privilege. People scramble to claim it — often by victimizing others. The scope of enemies then expands endlessly. Eventually, the beast devours everything.
We would be foolish to believe this tragic dynamic cannot repeat here. In recent years, America has seen smaller but chilling echoes: the #MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter, pro-Hamas and anti-ICE protests, and so on.
Who are the victims? Those once deemed “victimizers” — men, White people, and law enforcement personnel. Though our democracy tempers the scale, the revolutionary zeal is real, and has already produced a vast number of victims. 
Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger recently exhorted her supporters: “Let your rage fuel you.” Rage justifies escalation: exaggerated allegations, destruction of reputations, looting, even violence. We saw the consequences in the murder of Charlie Kirk.
The other fuel is thrill. Lenin once called revolution the “festival of the masses.” It is intoxicating to watch hierarchies topple, reputations destroyed, enemies dragged into the public square. Today, whole groups are urged to define themselves by grievances, while the list of oppressors grows without limit. Yesterday’s ally becomes today’s enemy; yesterday’s victim becomes today’s victimizer. Unfortunately, a society built on grievance politics collapses under its own contradictions.
China paid dearly: Mao’s Cultural Revolution killed tens of millions of people, including revolutionaries themselves, and brought the country to its knees. In America, Leftist ideology has condemned inner-city communities to crime, drugs, and welfare dependency that deepens poverty rather than relieves it. The paradox endures: revolutions that begin in the name of justice often end in greater injustice. Movements that elevate victims often produce mass victimization. Ideologies that promise to heal history’s wounds often end up deepening its scars.
The lesson is clear. A healthy society must recognize suffering without weaponizing it, redress injustice without creating new ones, and honor dignity rather than grievance. If we fail, the cycle will repeat — as it has so many times before. And once again, revolution will devour everyone, including those who started the revolution.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/license-to-kill-what-turns-normal-people-to-political-violence">READ MORE: American Maoists, Part I: License To Kill: What Turns Normal People To Political Violence?</a>
Xi Van Fleet is a survivor of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, activist, and author of “Mao’s America: A Survivor’s Warning.”
Sasha Gong is a writer, scholar, journalist, and filmmaker. A dissident in Mao’s China, she holds a PhD from Harvard University and was previously Director of the China Branch at Voice of America.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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The Wheel Of Misfortune: Victims, Victimhood, And Victimization

Communism

Marxism

The Trump administration on Monday cracked down on companies in China and other countries that use subsidiaries or other foreign affiliates to get around curbs on chipmaking equipment and other goods and technology.
The Commerce Department issued a new rule expanding its restricted export list, known as the Entity List, to automatically include subsidiaries owned 50 percent or more by a company on the list, according to a posting in the U.S. Federal Register. The action greatly increases the number of companies that require licenses to receive American goods and services.
The rule is likely to disrupt supply chains. It will also make it more difficult for companies to determine whether exports to a customer or supplier are restricted. According to the rule, certain transactions may be allowed for 60 days.
China&#8217;s Commerce Ministry strongly criticized the rule.
&#8220;This move by the U.S. is extremely egregious in nature,&#8221; the ministry said in a statement. &#8220;It seriously infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of the affected enterprises, severely disrupts international economic and trade order and gravely undermines the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains.&#8221;
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The timing of the rule&#8217;s release is somewhat surprising, given that the U.S. and China are in the midst of trade talks. The action strengthens export controls on China, a contrast to the U.S.&#8217;s recent loosening of controls on AI chips to China, like Nvidia&#8217;s H20.
If a company is owned 50 percent or more by an entity on the list, licenses will be required for U.S. exporters to ship goods or technology to the subsidiary, just as they are for listed entities, with many licenses likely to be denied.
The affiliates rule is similar to the &#8220;50 percent rule&#8221; for entities sanctioned by the Treasury Department&#8217;s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The Commerce Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Though companies around the world are on the Entity List, the change will most significantly impact Chinese entities, experts said. Factories that produce legacy chips and are affiliated with listed companies may be captured, as well as other sectors, including aircraft, they said.
Chinese tech giant Huawei, video surveillance company Hikvision, and drone manufacturer DJI are three examples of companies that may be impacted, one expert said. Many Huawei subsidiaries are already on the list, but not all.
An analysis by Kharon, a Los Angeles-based data and analytics company, found the expected rule could pull thousands of hidden subsidiaries in nearly 100 destinations around the world into &#8220;export-control crosshairs.&#8221;
&#8220;While Russia and China account for the majority of subsidiaries tied to already-listed entities, Kharon&#8217;s analysis uncovered that hundreds more are located in major trade and finance hubs &#8211; including the EU, the United States, the UK, Singapore, Switzerland, Japan, Canada, Australia and India,&#8221; the company said in a brief in June in anticipation of the rule.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld. Additional reporting by the Beijing newsroom. Editing by Doina Chiacu, Chris Sanders, William Maclean)

Bahrain’s King Hamad Al Khalifa Visits China

Trump Admin Expands Export Blacklist In Crackdown On China

Tariffs

trade

Trump Administration

Xi Jinping

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States and China have a deal that would keep TikTok operating in the United States, transferring its U.S. assets to U.S. owners from China&#8217;s ByteDance, potentially resolving a saga that has lingered for nearly a year.
A deal on the popular social media app, which counts 170 million U.S. users, stands as a breakthrough in months-long talks between the world&#8217;s No. 1 and No. 2 economies that have sought to defuse a wide-ranging trade war that has unnerved global markets.
&#8220;We have a deal on TikTok &#8230; We have a group of very big companies that want to buy it,&#8221; Trump said.
He lauded the trade deal reached with China, calling it an upgrade for both countries, and said it would preserve tens of billions of dollars of value.
&#8220;The kids want it so badly, I have parents calling me up. They don&#8217;t want it for themselves. They want it for their kids,&#8221; Trump said.
Any agreement could require approval by the Republican-controlled Congress, which passed a law in 2024 during the Biden Administration that required divestiture due to fears that TikTok&#8217;s U.S. user data could be accessed by the Chinese government, allowing Beijing to spy on Americans or conduct influence operations through the app.
The Trump administration has repeatedly declined to enforce a law requiring the app to shut down due to worries it would anger users and disrupt political communications, instead extending the divestiture deadline on three separate occasions.
Trump has credited the app with helping him win re-election last year, and his personal account has 15 million followers. The White House launched an official TikTok account last month.
CNBC reported Tuesday that the deal is expected to be closed within the next 30 to 45 days, and that the agreement will include existing investors in TikTok&#8217;s China-based parent ByteDance and new investors.
Reuters has not independently verified CNBC&#8217;s report. However, the details are in line with Reuters&#8217; reporting in April that the deal would spin off TikTok&#8217;s U.S. operations into a new company based in the U.S. and majority-owned and operated by U.S. investors.
Tariffs And TikTok
A deal for TikTok had been in the works in the spring, but was put on hold after China indicated it would not approve it following Trump&#8217;s announcements of steep tariffs on Chinese goods.
Washington has maintained that TikTok&#8217;s ownership by ByteDance makes it beholden to the Chinese government, and Beijing could use the app to collect data on Americans.
The company has said U.S. officials have misstated its ties to China, arguing its content recommendation engine and user data are stored in the U.S. on cloud servers operated by Oracle, while content moderation decisions that affect American users are also made in the U.S.
CNBC also reported on Tuesday that Oracle will keep its cloud deal with TikTok as part of the agreement. Reuters reported earlier this year that the White House was working on a plan to tap Oracle, along with a group of outside investors, to take control of the app&#8217;s operations.
As part of the plan, Oracle would have been responsible for addressing national security issues, Reuters had then reported.
Shares of Oracle pared some gains on Tuesday following the news on TikTok and were last up nearly 3%.
A framework agreement was reached by officials from both countries on Monday, marking a breakthrough after months of intense talks. The White House has been involved to an unprecedented level in the closely watched deal talks.
Amid escalating trade tensions, U.S. and China delegations discussed the divestment as part of broader disputes over tariffs and tech export control regulations.
A final confirmation on the deal is expected on Friday in a call between Trump and President Xi Jinping.
Several suitors, including former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, a startup run by OnlyFans founder, and Amazon, had expressed interest in the fast-growing business that analysts estimate could be worth as much as $50 billion.
(Reporting By Andrea Shalal and Jarrett Renshaw, Deborah Sophia, Jaspreet Singh; Editing by Anil D&#8217;Silva)

Trump Says U.S. Has A Buyer For TikTok

ByteDance

TikTok

Closing arguments were finally <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/27/asia/jimmy-lai-hong-kong-trial-intl-hnk">completed</a> at the end of August in the National Security Law trial of Hong Kong businessman Jimmy Lai. Mr. Lai stands accused of colluding with foreign powers and faces life in prison. In all likelihood, the court will find Jimmy Lai guilty and sentence him to prison. 
While we await the final verdict, the West should make a plan to help free Jimmy Lai.
To say Jimmy Lai has lived a remarkable life is an understatement. Born in mainland China, the now 77-year-old Lai moved to British Hong Kong when he was 12, where he believed he would have a better future. Starting out working in a factory, Lai worked his way up, eventually owning his own factory before starting the world-famous fashion brand, Giordano. As a billionaire with homes in London, Paris, and New York, Lai could have easily rested on his laurels and enjoyed a quiet retirement. However, Lai had a great appreciation for the political and economic system that allowed him to build his wealth.
As a British colony, Hong Kong enjoyed the rule of law and free market economics that allowed it to thrive. However, the handover of the city back to communist China loomed large. In an effort to fight for the values that made Hong Kong great, Jimmy Lai founded the Apple Daily newspaper. Becoming one of the largest pro-democracy newspapers in Hong Kong, Apple Daily and its founder fell in the crosshairs of the communists in mainland China through its pro-liberty content. Lai himself drew attention through his annual commemoration of the Tiananmen Massacre, a huge sore spot for Beijing.
While <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/hong-kong-freedoms-democracy-protests-china-crackdown">promised</a> a degree of autonomy for 50 years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has gradually encroached on the freedoms of Hong Kong, a city of 7.4 million people. The Basic Law, Hong Kong’s constitution, promises freedom of speech and rule of law; the past few decades, however, have seen a gradual erosion of these rights. For example, millions of Hong Kongers took to the streets to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-49340717">protest</a> a proposed law that would allow Hong Kongers to be extradited for trials in mainland China. While this law was retracted, it wasn’t long before something similar was implemented to take its place.
That brings us to the <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/03/what-is-hong-kongs-article-23-law-10-things-you-need-to-know/">National Security Law</a> (NSL), which came into effect in 2020. Essentially, the NSL criminalizes any speech or behavior that the government sees as threatening its authority. For Jimmy Lai and other pro-democracy activists, this put them in danger. As was feared, the NSL has resulted in the arrest of hundreds of people. In a city once famous for its independent courts, the NSL has seen a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/29/china/hong-kong-47-verdict-intl-hnk">conviction rate</a> near 100%.
It was shortly after the implementation of the NSL that Jimmy Lai found himself in legal trouble. In August 2020, Lai was <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/08/10/900758905/prominent-hong-kong-publisher-arrested-under-new-national-security-law">arrested</a> and paraded through Apple Daily’s office, allegedly for colluding with foreign powers. The truth, however, was that Lai objects to the authoritarianism of the CCP and wants to fight to preserve the freedoms that made Hong Kong great.
<div id="attachment_971739" style="width: 876px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-971739" class="size-large wp-image-971739" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1227987205-866x576.jpg" alt="HONG KONG, CHINA - AUGUST 10: A handout photo from Apple Daily showing Hong Kong business tycoon Jimmy Lai led by police officers during a search at the headquarters of Apple Daily after Lai, was arrested at his home on August 10, 2020 in Hong Kong, China. Hong Kong police arrested seven people, including business tycoon Jimmy Lai on Monday on charges of violating the territory's new national security law. Police officers raided the pro-democracy newspapers headquarter while leading Mr. Lai and the company's chief executive, Cheung Kim-hung, through the offices in handcuffs. (Photo by Handout/Getty Images)" width="866" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1227987205-866x576.jpg 866w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1227987205-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1227987205-768x511.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1227987205.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 866px) 100vw, 866px" />Handout/Getty Images</div>
It isn’t just the cause that makes Jimmy Lai a hero: Lai didn’t need to face the risk of arrest. In addition to his various homes around the world, Lai is a British passport holder. He could have fled Hong Kong at any time after the NSL became law. Many Hong Kongers already have. Running, however, is not in Jimmy Lai’s nature. As he <a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/jimmy-lai-and-fight-freedom-hong-kong-1">put it</a>, “I am one of the troublemakers. I cannot cause trouble and then leave.” Lai risked everything by fighting for liberty and again risked it by staying when he could have left.
Even while he waits for a verdict, Lai faces terrible <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewelinaochab/2025/09/04/jimmy-lais-life-at-serious-and-immediate-risk-in-detention/">prison conditions</a>. He is being held in solitary confinement, 23 hours a day. He has significant health problems but is being denied proper care. There is a good possibility that Lai could die in prison simply due to the conditions of his imprisonment, which is why the West must act quickly.
What can be done? For starters, political figures across the West should continue calling for Lai’s release. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/13/china/trump-jimmy-lai-closing-arguments-intl-hnk">President Trump</a> has joined the chorus of <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/the-dissident-beijing-cant-break-jimmy-lai-hong-kong">international voices</a> calling for Lai’s freedom. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer needs to fulfill his country’s obligation to stand up for Hong Kong’s autonomy. Lai is a British passport holder and therefore he is Starmer’s responsibility. In addition to public pressure, Starmer must also pause the construction of a new <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c864w2942vdo">Chinese mega embassy</a> in London. China should not be allowed a larger presence in the British capital while it actively persecutes dissidents.
Western governments can also sanction those involved in the administration of NSL trials. The U.S. has already <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-sanctions-six-individuals-for-undermining-hong-kongs-autonomy">sanctioned</a> several Hong Kong officials, but it can expand them to include senior HK officials such as Chief Executive John Lee, as well as the judges involved in these trials. The “One Country, Two Systems” framework promises Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy, something the NSL interferes with.
Finally, other economic tools can also be applied. Legislatures should consider efforts such as tariffs on Chinese goods as a way to put pressure on Beijing. Restricting the flow of advanced microchips into China would hit the Chinese government where it hurts and impose a cost for its oppression of Hong Kongers like Jimmy Lai.
The Chinese will, of course, counter by saying this is foreign interference in an internal matter. The problem with that argument is that China’s promises to Hong Kong are recorded in a legally binding international treaty, the <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8616/">Sino-British Joint Declaration</a>. Sanctions are an appropriate response to breaking that treaty.
So, why should the West care about what happens to Jimmy Lai? First, what happens in Hong Kong doesn’t necessarily stay there. The Chinese government already has an extensive network set up to threaten dissidents living abroad. The construction of the mega embassy means these efforts will only continue and affect more British citizens. Second, Lai represents a voice for liberty in Hong Kong and China as a whole. If we want freedom to thrive, the world needs people like Jimmy Lai.
The clock is ticking for Jimmy Lai. Any day now, the judges hearing his case could sentence him to life in prison. His health and prison conditions mean his stay behind bars could quickly lead to his death. If the West wants to preserve its own freedom and that of Hong Kong’s, it needs to act to save Jimmy Lai.
* * *
<a href="https://www.joinyv.org/talent/matthew-cookson">Matt Cookson</a> is an alumnus of the Young Voices Contributor Program and was a Middle East History and Policy Fellow with Young Voices. He also works in the supply chain for a U.S. Defense Contractor. His commentary has appeared in the Mises Institute, Real Clear Politics, the National Interest, Providence Magazine, China Source, and the Idaho Freedom Foundation. You can follow him on X @<a href="https://x.com/MattCookson95">MattCookson95</a> and Substack @<a href="https://substack.com/@thewaythecookiecrumbles?utm_source=user-menu">thewaythecookiecrumbles</a>. 
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

China Imposes National Security Law In Hong Kong

The Clock Is Ticking For Jimmy Lai. Time For The West To Act.

Democracy

Free Speech

Opinion

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LeBron James, the NBA’s self-anointed “King,” has once again traded American values for Communist applause — this time by authoring a fawning op-ed in People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship propaganda paper.
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James fawned over China’s basketball culture and praised the “friendliness” of his “Chinese friends,” all while the NBA attempts to reopen its lucrative market in the authoritarian state fully, NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/lebron-james-china-nba-build-bridges-rcna230007">reported</a>.
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“Basketball is not just a sport. It’s a bridge that connects us,” James wrote, as if quoting directly from the CCP’s global harmony playbook.
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James is the first NBA player ever to publish in People’s Daily — a paper infamous for rubber-stamping CCP talking points and suppressing political dissent.
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Now 40 and entering his record-breaking 23rd NBA season, James did not use the platform to speak about democracy, freedom, or the Uyghur genocide, but to wax poetic about China’s “passion,” “friendliness,” and “impressive basketball atmosphere.” He gushed about how “moved” he is by China’s support and vowed to “give his all” in every game — as if his performance on the court were a debt owed to Beijing.
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This isn’t new behavior for LeBron. Back in 2019, when then-Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey dared to speak up for democracy in Hong Kong, James didn’t stand for freedom — he attacked it. Calling Morey “misinformed,” LeBron <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/14/us/lebron-james-nba-china-intl-hnk-scli">warned</a> about the supposed “ramifications” of exercising free speech. He stated:
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<blockquote>We all talk about this freedom of speech. Yes, we all do have freedom of speech, but at times there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you&#8217;re not thinking about others, and you&#8217;re only thinking about yourself. I don&#8217;t want to get into a word or sentence feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn&#8217;t educated on the situation at hand, and he spoke. And so many people could have been harmed, not only financially, but physically, emotionally, spiritually. </blockquote>
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In other words: speak up for liberty, and you might hurt LeBron’s brand deals.
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James later said Morey’s pro-Hong Kong tweet could have caused harm “financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually.” But the only real harm? A dent in NBA profits from China.
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LeBron’s lifetime Nike deal is <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/lebron-james-nike-deal-bilion-maverick-carter">reportedly worth</a> $1 billion. His signature shoes? Among the top sellers in China.
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The NBA has billions at stake in China. In 2019, the league signed a <a href="https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Global/2019/07/29/Tencent-NBA/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">$1.5 billion streaming contract</a> with Chinese tech giant Tencent and has <a href="https://www.isportconnect.com/cctv-agrees-new-deal-with-nba-china/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">business ties</a> to state-run CCTV, which famously <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/08/china-state-tv-suspends-nba-broadcasts-after-morey-hong-kong-tweet.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com">yanked NBA games</a> after the Morey incident.
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Actor James Woods may have said it best during the 2020 NBA playoff protests, when LeBron first threatened to boycott, then backed off. Woods tweeted: “His China handlers didn’t like the optics?”
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
His China handlers didn’t like the optics? <a href="https://t.co/PsbhIXHd9E">https://t.co/PsbhIXHd9E</a>
&mdash; James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1299356993061179394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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The NBA is preparing to play its first preseason games in China since 2019.
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When does a basketball player stop being just an athlete and start becoming a mouthpiece for a regime that crushes freedom?
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Apparently, when the checks are big enough.
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NBA Star LeBron James 2025 China Tour In Chengdu

LeBron James Pens Love Letter to China, Waxes Poetic About ‘Impressive Basketball Atmosphere’

LeBron James

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CCP