Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai took the stand for the first time in his national security trial on Wednesday, testifying that he had never tried to influence overseas governments’ foreign policy on Hong Kong or China.
Hong Kong pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai. File photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP.
The 76-year-old founder of the shuttered Apple Daily newspaper stands accused of two counts of taking part in a “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” under a Beijing-imposed security law, and one count of conspiring to publish “seditious” materials under a colonial-era law. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
Lai entered the defendant’s dock at 10 am, dressed in a white shirt, green sweater, and brown blazer, wearing black framed glasses. He seemed in good spirits as he grinned and clasped his hands together in a gesture of thanks towards the public gallery.
Lai’s lawyer Steven Kwan told the court that he expected the defence examination of Lai to take 15 days, then began his examination by asking the tycoon how he started his media business in the 1990s by establishing Next Magazine and the Apple Daily newspaper.
Teresa Lai (left), the wife of detained pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai, and Cardinal Joseph Zen arrive at West Kowloon Law Courts Building, in Hong Kong, on November 20, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Lai, testifying in English, said: “After June 4, I thought it was a good opportunity for somebody like me – a businessman who has made some money… to participate in the delivery of information… the delivery of freedom.”
He was referring to the Tiananmen crackdown, on June 4, 1989. It is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, died when the People’s Liberation Army cleared protesters in Beijing.
“The more information you have, the more you are in the know, the more you are free,” Lai said.
Kwan asked about the core values of Lai’s paper. Lai said: “The core values of Apple Daily are actually the core values of the people of Hong Kong. That is carved into their hearts because they lived under the institution of the British colony.”
When pressed to elaborate, Lai said those values were “rule of law, freedom, pursuit of democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly.”
A Correctional Services Vehicle in the heavy rain outside the West Kowloon Law Courts Building in Hong Kong, on November 20, when detained pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai took the stand for the first time in his national security trial. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Lai also denied that the paper had seen a “radical” change in coverage in response to the 2014 Umbrella Movement. “We definitely reported more on social movements after 2014 just because it was more active, so we had to follow the events of society. That’s why we seemed to be more active,” he said.
‘That is beyond me’
Lai on Wednesday testified that he had never tried to influence overseas governments’ foreign policy on Hong Kong.
“I would not dare ask the VP to do anything. I was just there to relay what was happening [in Hong Kong],” he said.
A Chinese flag outside the West Kowloon Law Courts Building in Hong Kong, on November 20, 2024, as people wait in the rain to enter to witness pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai testify for the first time in his national security trial. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Asked if he had urged Pence to take any other action, Lai replied: “No, that is beyond me.”
Lai said the trip had been his own idea, and arranged by his assistant Mark Simon, who contacted former US department of state adviser Christian Whiton to put Lai in touch with American politicians.
Whiton also put together Lai’s July 2019 meeting with Mike Pompeo, who was US secretary of state at the time, during which the media mogul also asked the top official to “voice out” for the Hong Kong democracy movement.
The former state department adviser also arranged a meeting with Republican senator Rick Scott, whom Lai met again when the senator flew into Hong Kong at the peak of the protests.
Police officers, including those from the Counter Terrorism Response Unit, outside the West Kowloon Law Courts Building, in Hong Kong, on November 20, 2024, ahead of pre-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai taking the stand for the first time in his national security trial. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Kwan then asked about Lai’s dealings with ex-US deputy secretary for defence Paul Wolfowitz, presenting to the court financial transaction records involving HK$1.77 million over six transactions, from 2013 to 2017. Lai said the payments were consultancy fees for when he went to Myanmar looking for investment opportunities.
Asked whether he paid Wolfowitz to “influence US policy,” he said he did not: “I never donate to American politicians. I only donated to think tanks and the religious organisations.”
Lai also said that the amount he donated – between US$20,000 and US$50,000 per year – was too small to influence anything. “It would be too presumptuous to donate such a small sum of money and ask for something, it would be too crazy to think about,” he said.
Lai added that he did donate to local pro-democracy parties including the Democratic Party and the now-defunct Civic Party, as well as the League of Social Democrats.
When Lai’s trial began on December 18, 2023, he had already spent more than 1,000 days in custody after having had his bail revoked in December 2020. Three judges – handpicked by Hong Kong’s chief executive to hear national security cases – are presiding over Lai’s trial in the place of a jury, marking a departure from the city’s common law traditions.
