European MPs debate actions to punish Hong Kong after Jimmy Lai conviction

European lawmakers have renewed their calls for the bloc’s executive arm to revoke Hong Kong’s special trade status, and to sanction the city’s chief executive and officials to protest the conviction of former media boss Jimmy Lai on national security charges. During the debate in the European Parliament on Thursday, Hong Kong time, some MEPs stressed the importance of the EU taking concrete measures in response to the verdict, following a non-binding motion passed in the wake of an earlier national security trial that had failed to prompt action. Lai, the 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily tabloid, could…