In this episode of Dictators v Democrats: Why We Fight, I speak with Dr Mark Clifford President of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, journalist, academic, and author of The Troublemaker, a biography of Jimmy Lai.

Mark spent nearly three decades in Hong Kong, working as editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post and The Standard, and serving on the board of Apple Daily. He witnessed the city’s democratic flowering under Governor Chris Patten, its crushing under Beijing’s National Security Law, and the imprisonment of his colleague and friend Jimmy Lai who is now in solitary confinement for over 1,700 days.

We discuss:

• Clifford’s journey from journalist to activist.
• Jimmy Lai’s courage and why he knowingly risked prison for freedom.
• The CCP’s “United Front” playbook and how it spreads authoritarian influence abroad.
• Why Hong Kong is a “canary in the coal mine” for China’s global ambitions.
• How South Korea and Taiwan prove democracy fuels prosperity.
• Why journalism and truth-telling are vital weapons against authoritarianism.
• China, Russia, Iran and North Korea’s growing coordination and what it means for democracies.
• The battle for hearts and minds: why young people are losing faith in democracy, and how we can win them back.

Dr Clifford also shares updates on Jimmy Lai’s ongoing trial a “kangaroo court” with handpicked judges and why sanctions so rattle Beijing.

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