Interview wth Mark L. Clifford
05/15/25 • 32 min
For more than four years, one of the greatest entrepreneurs in Hong Kong’s history has been in solitary confinement on sham charges that could lead to imprisonment for life. Despite being held in a small cell, 77-year-old Jimmy Lai has become one of Beijing’s greatest threats and one of the world’s most courageous leaders in the fight for freedom.
Our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom is Mark L. Clifford, Lai’s close friend and an advocate for freedom in Hong Kong. He shares Lai’s remarkable story, from his childhood in poverty, to his rise as a successful business owner and newspaper publisher, to his stand against tyranny.
This year, The Bradley Foundation has awarded Lai with an Honorary Bradley Prize for his unwavering commitment to the ideals of freedom.
Topics Discussed on this Episode:
- Lai’s childhood on mainland China and why he fled to Hong Kong
- How Lai was able to quickly rise above his circumstances
- The influence of free market ideas on Lai’s career and life
- The impact of Tiananmen Square and the massacre of 1989
- Lai’s introduction to Catholicism and how religion shaped his belief system
- Lai’s decision to stay in Hong Kong and take a stand for freedom
- Lai’s state of mind after more than four years in prison
- Why the Chinese Communist Party fears Lai
- Whether there’s hope for Hong Kong’s democratic movement
About Mark L. Clifford:
Clifford is president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, the former executive director of the Asia Business Council, and a former board member at Next Digital. He is editorial chair of the Asian Review of Books and served as editor in chief of both English-language papers in Hong Kong, The Standard and the South China Morning Post.
For more than four years, one of the greatest entrepreneurs in Hong Kong’s history has been in solitary confinement on sham charges that could lead to imprisonment for life. Despite being held in a small cell, 77-year-old Jimmy Lai has become one of Beijing’s greatest threats and one of the world’s most courageous leaders in the fight for freedom.
Our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom is Mark L. Clifford, Lai’s close friend and an advocate for freedom in Hong Kong. He shares Lai’s remarkable story, from his childhood in poverty, to his rise as a successful business owner and newspaper publisher, to his stand against tyranny.
This year, The Bradley Foundation has awarded Lai with an Honorary Bradley Prize for his unwavering commitment to the ideals of freedom.
Topics Discussed on this Episode:
- Lai’s childhood on mainland China and why he fled to Hong Kong
- How Lai was able to quickly rise above his circumstances
- The influence of free market ideas on Lai’s career and life
- The impact of Tiananmen Square and the massacre of 1989
- Lai’s introduction to Catholicism and how religion shaped his belief system
- Lai’s decision to stay in Hong Kong and take a stand for freedom
- Lai’s state of mind after more than four years in prison
- Why the Chinese Communist Party fears Lai
- Whether there’s hope for Hong Kong’s democratic movement
About Mark L. Clifford:
Clifford is president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, the former executive director of the Asia Business Council, and a former board member at Next Digital. He is editorial chair of the Asian Review of Books and served as editor in chief of both English-language papers in Hong Kong, The Standard and the South China Morning Post.
Previous Episode
Interview with Christopher Rufo
An Interview with Christopher Rufo, Writer, Filmmaker and Commentator
For more than half a century, many of America’s most revered institutions have been infiltrated with ideas that run counter to the country’s founding principles. This ideological capture has been acute within prestigious universities, to the point where the opportunity for viewpoint diversity continues to be under severe threat.
Yet, according to our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom, all is not lost. In fact, he believes that there has been an ideological shift not only within higher education, but in society, politics, culture and in civic institutions. And, he says, it’s only beginning.
Christ Rufo discusses how his unique background, which is rooted in both scholarship and filmmaking, has led him to believe that it’s possible and vital to restore the principles of American exceptionalism.
Topics Discussed on this Episode
- Why Chris went into documentary filmmaking upon graduation from Georgetown University.
- What Chris learned directing documentaries and why he focused on urban areas
- How Chris’ filmmaking experience turned him into an advocate for solutions to the problems he was seeing
- Reversing the ideological capture of higher universities and how to turn ideas rooted in scholarship into reality.
- Opportunities to change the culture in institutions that seem permanently captured, such as government, higher education, and entertainment
- Why the younger generation is gravitating towards values and ideals traditionally tied to free enterprise, liberty and free speech
- The rise of independent media and how it has contributed to the cultural shift
- What it means to receive a Bradley Prize
About Christopher Rufo Rufo is a bestselling author, filmmaker and commentator, whose work has significantly influenced contemporary American culture and policies. He’s also a senior fellow and director of the initiative on critical race theory at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.
Rufo is a 2025 Bradley Prize winner.
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