Cato Institute Vice President for International Studies Ian Vásquez is available for interviews in light of the ongoing closing arguments in the Hong Kong national security trial of Jimmy Lai.
Vásquez issued the following statement in reaction:
Hong Kong’s sham trial of Jimmy Lai has put on display the dissident’s innocence and the city’s tragic descent into tyranny. Jimmy Lai’s principled defense of basic rights and freedom in all its dimensions—personal, civil, and economic—represents the dramatic struggle of liberty against power playing out in China, one of world’s most consequential countries. All freedom-loving people, inside and outside China, owe a debt to Jimmy Lai for his courage and for providing moral clarity at great personal cost.
In 2023, the Cato Institute awarded Jimmy Lai with the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty. Named after the late Nobel laureate and champion of freedom who lent his name to the award in 2001, the Friedman Prize has been awarded to policymakers who led their nations out of tyranny and to heroic dissidents who have been persecuted by totalitarian regimes.
If you would like to speak with Vásquez, please contact pr@cato.org to set up an interview.
Additional materials:
- Cato Video — Jimmy Lai — Recipient of the 2023 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty
- Cato Event — The Troublemaker: How Jimmy Lai Became a Billionaire, Hong Kong’s Greatest Dissident, and China’s Most Feared Critic
- Cato Audio — Mark Clifford on the story of Jimmy Lai as a champion of Hong Kong’s freedom
- Cato Podcast — Understanding Jimmy Lai’s Determination for Freedom
- Cato Podcast — The Hong Konger
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