"I'll sink with the ship, because this place gives me everything," said Lai in an interview about Hong Kong with DW a few months before he was taken into custody in December 2020. He was one of the first high-profile figures to be targeted under a "national security law" imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing following a crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
Beijing had said the law would restore Hong Kong "from chaos to order" after demonstrations in 2019 opposing an extradition bill morphed into massive protests against Beijing encroaching on Hong Kong's civil liberties.