The Global Story With Jimmy Lai in jail, have Trump and the West abandoned Hong Kong?
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Feb 12, 2026 Danny Vincent, BBC Hong Kong reporter and the last journalist to interview Jimmy Lai, offers on-the-ground perspective. He recounts Lai's rise from refugee to media tycoon and the tense final interview. Conversations cover the national security law’s origins, the US-linked collusion charge, the shock of a 20-year sentence, and whether Western democracies have shifted their stance toward Hong Kong.
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Symbol Of Pre-Handover Values
- Jimmy Lai embodies the pre-handover Hong Kong values of press freedom, protest rights and independent courts.
- The national security law sped up a long-running erosion of those freedoms into rapid change.
Final Interview Before Detention
- Danny Vincent filmed and interviewed Jimmy Lai repeatedly while Lai was out on bail in 2020, including his final interview before detention.
- Lai prepared emotionally and practically for prison, saying "Don't let fear frighten you."
From Factory Floor To Apple Daily
- Lai fled Guangdong to Hong Kong as a boy, worked in garment factories and rose to become a billionaire entrepreneur.
- He then shifted into media, founding Apple Daily as a pro-democracy tabloid.