According to Vojtěch Filip, chairman of the board of the Czech-Chinese Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the 20-year sentence for Hong Kong businessman Jimmy Lai is in line with international law and Chinese legislation. Filip responds to the different interpretations of this sentence in the world media and stresses that the sovereignty of a state depends on whether its law applies to all and throughout its territory.
„Neither Hong Kong nor Macau ever ceased to be part of China,“ Filip recalls that the transition of these territories to the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China before the new millennium was a return to the legal and historical order. Every state, he said, has the right to protect its political regime and punish those who do not respect the law.
In this context, Filip cites Article 1, paragraph 1, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees every state the right to freely choose its political system and to exploit its natural resources. „China is fulfilling this right,“ Filip says, adding that the verdict is commensurate with the danger that China's collapse would pose not only to itself but to the entire world.
According to Filip, the international community should see this punishment positively - as a step towards preventing further crises and conflicts.
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