Donald Trump criticizes Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai's arrest, says "It is terrible"

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday called detention of Hong Kong media Tycoon Jimmy Lai by Hong Kong police as "terrible" development and said that he has withdrawn all incentives from Asian financial hub after imposition of national security law by Chinese Communist Regime.

"It is terrible. We gave tremendous incentives to Hong Kong because of freedom we want freedom. We have w withdrawn all of those incentives and it will be impossible for Hong Kong to compete with respect to that," he told reporters.

" United States will end up making a lot more money because we lost a lot of businesses to Hong Kong. We made it very convenient for people to go re. US will be a big beneficiary," he added.

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Jimmy Lai's arrest and release

Trump's criticism is in light of Jimmy Lai being arrested by Hong Kong police on August 10 under draconian National Security Law. Hong Kong police stormed into offices of Lai’s Apple Daily newspaper and arrested media mogul over suspected collusion with foreign forces. Police also arrested his two sons and or associates. 

This move by Hong Kong police under instruction of autocratic Chinese Communist Regime has brought international criticism. United State’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on August 10 said he was troubled by reports of arrest of Jimmy Lai, media tycoon and ardent critic of Communist Party of China, under draconian National Security law. European Union too expressed ir concern over arrest of Jimmy Lai saying that it furr stoke fears that National Security Law is being used to stifle freedom of expression.

Lai is founder of Giorda, an Asian clothing retailer; Next Digital, a Hong Kong-listed media company; and popular pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily.  71-year-old entrepreneur has been a vocal critic of authoritarian Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime and has been one of main contributors to pro-democracy camp. Lai has often termed CCP rule as “murderous regime”

On August 11, Hong Kong police released Jimmy Lai, his two sons and or arrested associates on bail after facing severe criticisms from international fora.

Upon his release, Lai spoke to reporters in a Facebook Live session. In his inspiring address, he asked his staff to continue filing ‘unvarnished dispatches’ that have infuriated China and pro-Beijing politicians in Hong Kong. He also quipped that it was becoming increasingly difficult to run a media business in Hong Kong. Talking about his arrest, he added that “luckily” he wasn’t sent back to mainland. He asked his reporters to “Keep Fighting.”

"Fight on! Let's fight on. We have support of Hong Kong people. We can't let m down," he said.

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