The West Kowloon Law Courts Building where the High Court process the conviction of Jimmy Lai on December 15, 2025. Photo: IC

 
Jimmy Lai, an instigator of anti-China riots in Hong Kong, was found guilty on Monday on two charges of conspiring to collude with external forces and a charge of conspiracy to publish seditious materials. The verdict was handed down by the High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on the national security case of Lai and three companies linked to the now-defunct Apple Daily.

Lai has been rebranded by some Western media outlets as a so-called "champion" of democratic values, but behind this orchestrated narrative, very few people know about his complicity in instigating chaos in Hong Kong as well as the fact that Lai is a key agent of Western anti-China forces and one of the prominent figures in Hong Kong's opposition.

For years, Lai, through his control of Next Digital and its publications like Apple Daily, has aggressively championed Western democratic values while attacking the Communist Party of China (CPC)'s leadership and socialist system. He has disseminated and sensationalized negative news about the Chinese mainland and human rights cases, tarnishing its image. 

The 855-page guilty verdict reveals that Lai has long been in frequent contact with Western anti-China forces and Taiwan independence separatists, actively seeking foreign intervention in Hong Kong's affairs while urging the international community to pressure the central government through sanctions on Hong Kong. 

He has provided substantial financial support to anti-China and anti-Hong Kong organizations, acting as a behind-the-scenes financier of Hong Kong's opposition, while attempting to obstruct the implementation of the National Security Law (NSL) for Hong Kong.

Experts say that these truths exposed by the court verdict once again manifest how Jimmy Lai severely endangered national security, undermined Hong Kong's prosperity and stability, and harmed citizens' well-being—leaving a deep and lasting scar on the city.

Pivotal figure pushing anti-China agenda

Jimmy Lai is, in fact, a major driving force behind the dissemination of anti-China thoughts that sow chaos in Hong Kong, rather than a "defender of press freedom" as portrayed by certain Western media outlets.

Since founding Apple Daily in 1995, Lai has consistently manipulated the newspaper's editorial direction to incite confrontation in Hong Kong society against the central government and the HKSAR government, stir up social hatred, and call on the US and other Western countries to impose sanctions, blockades, or other hostile actions against China.

Some 161 articles published in Apple Daily were deemed seditious under Hong Kong's colonial-era sedition law, including 33 opinion columns written by Lai, Reuters reported, citing prosecutors. 

He also incited street protests and deliberately incited public panic over the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019. During the 2019 turmoil, Lai mobilized all his propaganda outlets to attack the HKSAR government, smear the police, glorify violence, instigate citizens to engage in resistance, and escalate street violence in Hong Kong, plunging the city into an unprecedented crisis, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Additionally, Lai and his ilk spared no effort in inciting teenagers to take to the streets. Apple Daily once devoted full pages to content such as US security agencies training primary and secondary students for aggressive cyber espionage warfare, blatantly proclaiming that students had played a leading role and performed outstandingly in a three-month period of the movement, while producing elaborate posters to "heroize" the rioters. Such propaganda campaigns tied many minors to the anti-China, chaos-Hong Kong chariot, unwittingly turning them into cannon fodder, according to Xinhua.

The Hong Kong Police Force had sent many letters to Apple Daily regarding its biased and fake reporting of law enforcement amid the social turmoil. For example, in December 2019, a total of 16 letters were sent to Apple Daily to express strong dissatisfaction over biased or even fake reports that aimed to arouse anti-police sentiment in Hong Kong, according to public records. Even when black-clad rioters besieged the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in November 2019, turning the campus into a war zone by clashing with police and endangering the lives of students, Apple Daily ran a front-page slogan condemning law enforcement procedures, while other local newspapers all ran headlines like "Vote to reject violence."

"Apple Daily has been instigating public hatred toward the HKSAR government and the [Chinese] mainland. Almost every report [the newspaper runs] on the [Chinese] mainland deliberately exaggerates the gap between it and Hong Kong," Lawrence Tang Fei, a member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, told the Global Times in a previous interview. "And all these smearing tactics are not secret." 

Lai has completely deviated from the principles of journalism, which should uphold the pursuit of truth, serve public interest, and remain independent, objective, and balanced, Chu Kar-kin, a veteran commentator based in the HKSAR and member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, told the Global Times. 

His newspaper, Apple Daily, acted as a platform and channel for anti-China, anti-Hong Kong forces to harm national security. It deliberately incited hatred among citizens toward the central government and the HKSAR government, seriously endangering social cohesion. It was referred to by Hong Kong residents as the "toxic apple," according to the commentator.

In 2019, on several occasions, Global Times reporters witnessed Apple Daily's so-called "journalists" closely communicate with black-clad rioters during anti-government protests, help them escape from police operations, and even verbally attack police officers on the scene. 

While some Western media outlets like BBC and the New York Times see Apple Daily as a Hong Kong newspaper defying the "crackdown" and its operation as undermining press freedom, some observers have ridiculed such hypocrisy, noting that viewing a propaganda machine, which is sometimes seen as a political tool, as a real newsroom just lowers the standards of journalism. 

"Freedom of the press does not mean the media has the freedom to violate the law," Tang said, noting that even in the West, media outlets are expected to comply with local laws and regulations. 

Mouthpiece in HK for anti-China forces in West

Citing evidences, observers have pointed out that Lai is actually the agent in Hong Kong for anti-China forces from the US and the West, not the so-called "democracy champion" that some Western media outlets have so strenuously attempted to portray him as.

Lai has repeatedly requested overseas anti-China forces intervene in Taiwan and Hong Kong's affairs during interviews with foreign media outlets, including Fox News. His assistant, Simon, is considered a key channel for his collusion with Western anti-China forces.

Simon, who reportedly had stints with US naval intelligence and the CIA, might have been serving as the middleman, helping to collect US-sourced funds for the political movement in Hong Kong, Hong Kong media outlet Wen Wei Po reported.

Lai's separatist actions and schemes have also spread from Hong Kong to the Taiwan region.

The verdict mentioned that Lai was keen to enlist Taiwan as a leverage against China. In early 2017, Lai advocated for a greater US military presence in the island of Taiwan to use it as leverage against the Chinese mainland. Thus, Lai hired Jack Keane, a retired US general, and Paul Wolfowitz, a former US Deputy Secretary of Defense, to advise Tsai Ing-wen, the then leader of the Taiwan region, paying vast sums in remuneration to Keane and Wolfowitz to advise Tsai to recruit retired US army generals to upgrade its military and technology, among other things. The coordinator for this project was Mark Simon and Lai kept a close eye on it through Simon and Antonio Chiang, a right-hand man of Tsai and a former Apple Daily Taiwan employee, according to the verdict. 

Moreover, in May 2020, Lai wrote an article published in The New York Times proposing the revocation of student visas for the children of CPC and HKSAR government officials to retaliate against China.

Key obstructor to implementation of NSL

Lai has employed multiple tactics in a futile attempt to obstruct the enactment and implementation of the NSL for Hong Kong. To hinder the promulgation and implementation of the NSL, Lai used Apple Daily to launch the "One Hongkonger, One Letter to Save Hong Kong" campaign in May 2020, urging readers to petition then-US President Donald Trump to sanction Chinese officials involved in implementing the NSL, according to the guilty verdict.

In accordance with the demands of anti-China US politicians, Lai launched an English edition of Apple Daily and launched the online live program "Live Chat with Jimmy Lai." Around the time of the NSL's implementation, he published articles and public statements, invited anti-China politicians to create public opinion, called for sanctions or analyzed the potential impact of sanctions to garner support, and advocated for technology embargoes against China, the revocation of Hong Kong's special status, and linking non-trade issues to trade negotiations with China, the verdict stated.

"Lai is a key planner and participant in a series of major anti-China, anti-Hong Kong events. His crimes of destabilizing Hong Kong and inciting subversion are blatant," said Chu Kar-kin. "Hong Kong is a society based on the rule of law, where laws must be followed and violations punished. No one can engage in illegal activities under the guise of 'democracy' and 'freedom' and expect to escape legal sanctions. Some politicians in certain countries are attempting to portray Lai as a 'democracy champion,' but this is nothing more than a ploy to deceive and manipulate public opinion, and an act of pressuring and interfering with Hong Kong's judicial process."

Without national security, there can be no democracy or freedom. Defending national security is defending Hong Kong's democracy and freedom, as well as protecting the human rights and fundamental well-being of all residents. The conviction and sentencing of Lai by Hong Kong's judiciary is a protection of democracy and human rights, the commentator stressed.