Pro-democracy HK tycoon Jimmy Lai convicted in national security trial

US/UK “city on a hill” and world‑police role

• Many argue the US (and earlier the UK) has lost the moral aspiration and soft power it once claimed, making it harder to “call out evil abroad.”
• Others reply that the “city on a hill” narrative was always propaganda masking coups, selective interventions, and support for dictators when convenient.
• Some credit US hegemony with unprecedented global stability and prosperity; others emphasize Iraq, South America, and other disasters as disqualifying.
• There’s tension between wanting a “world police” to resist tyranny and rejecting great‑power meddling as imperialism or mafia‑style coercion.

Hong Kong’s history and Lai’s position

• Commenters remind that colonial Hong Kong was not democratic; meaningful elections arrived only near the handover, partly as leverage against Beijing.
• Counterpoint: under the British there were real civil liberties (speech, independent courts) that were valuable even without full democracy.
• Lai is seen by some as a genuine moral actor who stayed to fight, by others as a comprador/agent who openly lobbied the US for sanctions and regime change—behavior they say any state would treat as treason.

National Security Law, sovereignty, and broken deals

• One side stresses the Sino‑British Joint Declaration and “one country, two systems,” arguing China clearly violated a 50‑year promise once Hong Kong lost economic leverage.
• Others say the Basic Law always mandated a security statute, Hong Kong stalled for decades, and sovereigns ultimately can (and do) walk away from agreements when power allows.
• This leads to a realist view: treaties are only as strong as the enforcing power; might still makes right.

Fair trials, treason, and free speech

• Several doubt any “enemy of the state” can get a fair trial in China; others broaden that skepticism to most countries.
• Debate centers on where to draw the line between protected dissent, foreign lobbying, and collaboration justifying national‑security charges.
• Comparisons are made to US espionage cases, speech around foreign regimes, and Western crackdowns on unpopular or “terrorist‑adjacent” expression.

Democracy’s decline, hypocrisy, and whataboutism

• Many see global democracy eroding: social media, surveillance, deregulation, and corporate power hollowing out the 1960s‑2000s model.
• Western criticism of China is attacked as hypocritical given colonial legacies, current hate‑speech and security laws, and selective concern (e.g., Pakistan, Israel, Gulf monarchies).
• Others push back that imperfection doesn’t void the right to condemn blatant repression, and warn that “whataboutism” is used to blur clear wrongs like Hong Kong’s crackdown.

Taiwan and regional stakes

• For some, Lai’s conviction and Hong Kong’s trajectory confirm to Taiwan what unification would mean, strengthening pro‑independence sentiment.
• Others argue time, integration, and economic incentives will normalize “one country, two systems” and erode resistance, especially as China’s power grows and US resolve is questioned.