Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, founder of Apple Daily, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for defying the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in relation to its totalitarianism. The move is seen as a global warning by the party as they threaten to crush anyone who challenges them. Lai's imprisonment marks the end of an era for Hong Kong, a former crown jewel of Asian capitalism. The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan (FCCJ) in Tokyo expressed concern over the draconian sentencing, while Human Rights Watch warned that it could be a move to silence independent media. Hong Kong's press freedom ranking has dropped from a respectable 18th to an abysmal 140th. The United States should no longer treat the dismantling of Hong Kong’s autonomy as a talking point in policy debates.