Washington, D.C.— Hong Kong entrepreneur and freedom activist Jimmy Lai (aka Lai Chee-Ying) will receive the 2023 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty, the Cato Institute announced today. The Milton Friedman Prize is a biennial award presented to an individual or group who has made a significant contribution to advancing human freedom.

Jimmy Lai has become a powerful symbol of the struggle for democratic rights and press freedom in Hong Kong as China’s Communist Party exerts ever greater control over the territory. In prison and denied bail, Lai is an outspoken critic of the Chinese government and advocate for democracy who faces charges that could keep him in jail for the rest of his life.

“We are honored, and humbled, to present Cato’s highest award to Jimmy Lai,” said Peter Goettler, CEO of the Cato Institute. “By selflessly sacrificing his own freedom to fight against the authoritarian government of China, Jimmy is an inspiration to millions in the struggle for liberty and justice around the world.”

Born in mainland China, Lai arrived in Hong Kong at age 12 as a stowaway on a fishing boat. After starting as a child laborer in a garment factory, he rose to manager, eventually purchasing a bankrupt company and launching the clothing retail chain Giordano, where he made his fortune. In the face of criticism from Lai following the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, the Chinese government forced branches of Giordano on the mainland to close, after which he sold his share of the company. He launched media company Apple Daily in 1995, which advocated for democracy and free markets.

Since Tiananmen, Lai has been a leading figure in the Hong Kong democracy movement. Lai’s clashes with authorities intensified sharply after the July 2020 enactment of the sweeping national security law that expanded the suppression of the rights and freedom of the Hong Kong people by the mainland. In December of 2022, Lai was sentenced to five years in prison. A trial is scheduled for September 2023, which could result in a sentence of life in prison.

Lai was once asked why a wealthy man, who could be living a comfortable and quiet life, was fully engaged in Hong Kong’s freedom protests and putting his own freedom at risk. “If there’s no freedom, what good is money?” Lai responded. “I think you have to live a life of meaning. And I find taking responsibility to fight for freedom is meaningful for me, personally. I’m not thinking about legacy. I’m just thinking about doing the right thing, and not thinking about the consequences.”

Established in 2002 and presented every two years, the Friedman Prize is the leading international award for significant contributions toward advancing individual liberty.

The prize will be presented at a gala dinner at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. on May 18, 2023. Lai’s son Sebastian will accept the award. The award will be presented by human rights activist Tong Yi and a keynote address will be delivered by Lai’s close friend, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board Member William McGurn.

Previous winners include the Innocence Project, a group that works to free people who were incarcerated for crimes they did not commit; Las Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White), a Cuban dissident group; Danish journalist and free speech advocate Flemming Rose; former Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Poland Leszek Balcerowicz; Chinese economist Mao Yushi; Iranian writer and journalist Akbar Ganji; leader of a Venezuelan pro-democracy movement Yon Goicoechea; former Prime Minister of Estonia Mart Laar; property rights reformer Hernando de Soto; and the late British economist Peter Bauer.