If it looks like retaliation and smells like retaliation, then it’s China flexing their new “national security” totalitarian law in Hong Kong in order to hit back at the United States.

On Friday, the Treasury Department laid financial sanctions on Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and 10 other officials, in order to freeze any assets that those officials might have had in the United States. It was a political manuever meant to send a message. As we have continued to observe, this is now the dance that we are doing politically with China. Ever since the acknowledgement that China covered up COVID-19 until it was too late to contain, the Trump administration has gone frigid when it comes to China. We are now deep in a cold war with China, and every tit will get a tat. We close their consulate, they close ours. We put sanctions on Hong Kong officials, China has a Western-friendly media mogul in Hong Kong arrested.

Media tycoon and activist Jimmy Lai, his sons and several others were arrested early Monday for allegedly colluding with foreign forces, a crime under Hong Kong’s new national security law, according to the newspaper he founded and a close associate.”

Police arrived at the home of Lai and his sons, Mark Simon, senior executive at Lai’s media group and a close aide, said in a tweet. Police were “executing search warrants,” Simon added. He said the alleged crime was colluding with foreign powers.”

Several executives at Lai’s media group, Next Digital Ltd., were among those arrested Monday, a person familiar with the situation said. Next Digital is the parent company of Apple Daily, the newspaper Lai founded in 1995 and one of the most-read media outlets in Hong Kong. The group has thousands of staff in the city.”

Police entered offices of Next Digital a short time later.”

Under the new security law imposed by Beijing, colluding with foreign powers carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Beijing has branded Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement a plot by Western powers to undermine the ruling Chinese Communist Party, rather than a genuine call by Hong Kong people for greater freedoms and the preservation of the territory’s promised autonomy.”

Dear American media (especially Jim Acosta), you whine about President Trump being mean to you as “oppression.” THIS IS ACTUAL MEDIA OPPRESSION.

Jimmy Lai, who is 72 years old, has been a thorn in China’s side for a long time.

The self-made millionaire is particularly grating to Beijing because of his long-standing relationships on Capitol Hill. Lai traveled to Washington last year to meet with Vice President Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Chinese state media has called Lai a traitor and accused him of bankrolling pro-democracy causes. Lai, who is from mainland China, became politically active after Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on protesters at Tiananmen Square.”

Lai knew what was coming once China crushed Hong Kong with the “national security” law, and he dared speak up about it to the Western media – also something that China can’t forgive.

What makes Lai’s arrest even more complex is that he is a British citizen. Will that give him any protection? What will the U.K. do in this situation?

Jimmy Lai, who is a UK citizen, is handcuffed and and escorted to a van. Arrested for alleged foreign collusion, he is so far the highest-profile arrested after national security law was inserted by Beijing. Police says he is also arrested for committing fraud. #HongKongProtests pic.twitter.com/Vi4okmLhUv

— Ezra Cheung (@ezracheungtoto) August 10, 2020

Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, an outspoken critic of communist China, called attention to Lai’s arrest on Twitter.

Longtime #HongKong publisher arrested for daring to speak out against #ChineseCommunistParty – actually, for daring just to report the news. This is the “free speech” #China wants to force on the world https://t.co/Xw2NlvREy1

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) August 9, 2020

Pure and simple, Lai’s arrest under this so-called “security” law for “colluding with foreign powers” is retaliation for the U.S. financial sanctions on the pro-Beijing Hong Kong leaders – though it remains to be seen how a U.K. citizen can be subject to “colluding with foreign powers” when the U.K. and the U.S. are allies. (That is a rhetorical question – this is communist China, where any charge can be made to stick and send someone to prison for life.)

We wondered what China’s next move would be after the sanctions announcement. Now we know. The question now becomes, what does the United States do next in this cold war ballet?

Featured image via Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license