Jimmy Lai tells trial it was his ‘honest belief’ Western sanctions on China could stop Beijing from imposing security law
Hong Kong Free Press
Jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has said it was his “honest belief” that the West could force Beijing to halt the enactment of a national security law in Hong Kong in 2020 by imposing sanctions on top Chinese officials.
The tycoon’s national security trial on Tuesday heard that he accepted several interviews from international media outlets, including Fox News, Bloomberg and BBC, after Beijing announced it was drafting a national security law for Hong Kong in late May 2020.
Lai, 76, told the court it was his genuine belief at the time that sanctioning top Chinese officials’ “corrupted money” abroad could stop the security law, which was eventually enacted on June 30, 2020.
The Apple Daily founder is on trial for two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and another charge of conspiring to publish “seditious” materials. He could be jailed for life if convicted.
The court heard that in an interview with Bloomberg dated May 28, 2020, Lai said “the most effective sanction [Donald] Trump can impose on China … is to freeze the bank accounts of Chinese top officials’ corrupted money in the US and the world.”
The court also heard that Lai opened an account on social media platform Twitter, now known as X, and launched a petition campaign addressed to then-US president Trump, in May 2020 amid reports that Beijing would impose a security law in Hong Kong.
In a text message sent to Apple Daily columnist Simon Lee on May 22, 2020, Lai wrote that “this is a good time so start a Twitter account to let the world be aware of what is going to happen to [Hong Kong].” He also referred to the national security law as “newfangled and illegal.”
The text message was signed off with the initials “MB,” prompting Judge Susana D’Almada Remedios to question whether Lai wrote the message himself or if he had copied the message from somebody else.
The judge also questioned the language in the message. “Newfangled? Is that some word you would use?” Remedios asked.
While Lai said he could not recall the meaning of MB, he maintained that he wrote the message as he could “relate 100 per cent to what is written here.”
‘The boss’
In that text message, Lai also said the security law would be “over and above our Basic Law to clampdown on [Hong Kong]’s rule of law and freedom,” referring to the city’s mini-constitution.
His lawyer, Steven Kwan, asked the tycoon to explain how he came to such understanding of the security law when the content of the legislation was not known to the public then.
“From what was reported, I knew that was going to be a law overriding the Basic Law and the rule of law and that it’s going to be very draconian,” Lai told the court.
The court heard that on May 24, 2020, Apple Daily ran a front-page campaign titled “One Hongkonger, one letter to save Hong Kong,” which appealed to Trump for his “public support” and the “diplomatic efforts” of the US in response to the impending security law.
Chan Pui-man, a former associate publisher of Apple Daily who was charged alongside Lai and testified against him during the trial, earlier told the court that Lai insisted on the campaign despite pushback from colleagues and the city’s pro-democracy figures, such as Martin Lee and Joshua Wong.
Asked how Lai succeeded in launching the campaign, the tycoon said it was because he was “the boss.” He added that the campaign was suggested by ex-digital director Nick Cheung, who was arrested but not charged in the case.
The court heard that Lai took the position of the executive chairperson of Apple Daily’s parent company Next Digital on May 25, 2020, after retiring from his role in 2014.
He told the court that media business in the city would become “very dangerous” under the security law and that he should “take full responsibility to face that danger” as the boss.
“More or less we knew what the national security law was, you know, more or less we knew that it was going to be very draconian and damaging to the freedom of speech,” he added.
‘Wishful thinking’
In an email exchange dated May 27, 2020 with retired US army general Jack Keane, Lai said “the most effective” sanction would be to freeze the bank accounts of Chinese officials in the US and the West.
“All the top officials will so be scared that they may try to delay the imposition of the [security law],” Lai wrote to Keane, who prosecutors alleged was one of Lai’s many “agents.”
The court also heard that on the same day, then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo issued a statement, saying the US State Department had proposed revoking Hong Kong’s special status that allowed the city to receive favourable trade treatments under US legislation.
Lai texted ex-Apple Daily publisher Cheung Kim-hung, also a defendant who testified for the prosecution, saying the US’s act was “not enough to move China” and would only hurt Hong Kong, the court heard.
Lai also suggested that Trump would impose “harsher sanctions” shortly in his messages to Cheung.
Asked how he got the idea, Lai said he could not recall, but added that it was perhaps his “wishful thinking.”
The trial continues on Wednesday.
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