As I see it | Western media criticism of the Jimmy Lai case verdict needs a fact check

There is this old British chestnut that says justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done.

There is the reality of justice and the appearance of it, and the two don’t always or even usually coincide.

There are two main reasons behind the widespread Western criticism of Lai’s case. One is that Western standards and assumptions about governance and journalism are very different from China’s. I can respect them in the same way that I respect Islamic or Christian beliefs, though I am not a Christian or a Muslim. The other reason is the West’s inherent double standards, to which I do object.

Let’s start with the latter, which I will call the West’s fact-free criticism of the case.

I will cite several examples, the first from The New York Times, written by one of its most prominent commentators, titled “Dissidents are silenced, and the West moves on”.