Deceased Hong Kong activist funded ‘military training’ trip in Taiwan during 2019 protests, terrorism trial hears

Hong Kong Free Press

The High Court in Hong Kong. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

A deceased Hong Kong activist funded a trip for radical protesters to receive “military training” in Taiwan during the 2019 pro-democracy demonstrations and unrest, a court has heard.

Prosecution witness Eddie Pang, who has been testifying in the city’s first-ever trial under a UN anti-terrorism act, told the High Court on Monday that Edward Lau had paid for seven protesters to visit Taichung in September 2019, where they were trained by a veteran Taiwanese soldier on military tactics and firing weapons.

Lau, an activist known for his role in 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement, reportedly died last year. He also vied for a seat in the Western District Council in 2015, but did not succeed.

Pang said Lau offered each participant of the trip HK$8,000 to cover expenses in Taiwan and a return ticket, adding that he would pay for a month’s salary if people had to quit their job for the trip.

Hong Kong activist Edward Lau. Photo: Supplied.

The deceased was also said to have been in discussion with other protesters, including Ng Chi-hung, to employ guns and explosives against police officers on October 1, 2019. But Lau called off the plan because the group suspected they were being monitored by police, according to Pang.

Seven defendants – Cheung Chun-fu, Cheung Ming-yu, Yim Man-him, Christian Lee, Lai Chun-pong, Justin Hui, and Lau Pui-ying – are standing trial before a jury over an alleged bomb plot to murder police officers during a lawful rally in December 2019.

Prosecutors said the group planned to plant two bombs along a protest march route in Wan Chai, which could have caused heavy casualties if the plot was carried out.

The first six defendants have pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiring to commit bombing of prescribed objects, while Lau pleaded not guilty to conspiring to provide or collect property to commit terrorist acts.

‘Military training’

Pang, who pleaded guilty to “bombing of prescribed objects,” began his testimony on Friday. He said he first met Ng and Hui during the 2014 protest movement, adding that he only met the pair again in July 2019, after large-scale protests were triggered by a later-withdrawn extradition bill.

Pang, Ng and Hui later joined an unnamed radical group led and financed by Lau, and that the group went to Yuen Long in July that year to retaliate alleged gang members involvement in an earlier attack, Pang said.

A rally is held in Hong Kong Island on December 8, 2019, to mark the International Human Rights Day. File photo: May James/HKFP.

He added that Ng, who also pleaded guilty, told them that they would be the third group to receive military-style training in Taiwan, and urged them to think carefully before going on to the trip.

“[Ng] told us not to treat it as a holiday, he said it was a real military training,” Pang said in Cantonese.

Pang, Ng, and three other defendants – Hui, Lai and Cheung Ming-yu – were among the group who visited Taichung, according to Pang’s testimony.

Pang said they were taught military-style knife-fighting skills, gun-firing, and how to rob firearms from police officers by a retired Taiwanese marine, identified as “Shosan” in court.

They also learned about chemicals used to make explosives and experimented with making petrol bombs and thermite-filled incendiary devices, according to Pang.

“[We] threw them at an abandoned motorcycle and watched it burn,” he said.

Weapon testing

Separately, Pang said Lau and Ng wished to import guns from the US, with Lau paying for the expenses and Ng arranging the purchase, in a meeting soon after the Taiwan trip. But the order was held up in the US, he added.

He said Ng told the group in late October via Telegram to “stay low” until a “big operation.” Ng eventually told them the guns had arrived in early-November and arranged a testing, Pang added.

Police officers stand outside Hong Kong's High Court on August 14, 2023. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. — Police officers stand outside Hong Kong’s High Court on August 14, 2023. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

The court previously heard radical protesters went to a suburb in Sai Kung in the early hours on November 17, 2019, and tested weapons.

The witness told the court on Friday that the weapon testing field trip was attended by him, Ng, and defendants Lee, Hui, Lai, and Cheung Ming-yu.

Pang said, upon arrival at a gathering point on that day, Ng unpacked three handguns, six fully-loaded magazines, an AR-15 rifle, around 20 to 30 5.56-millimetre bullets, and two kilograms of ammonium nitrate–fuel oil explosives, as well as multiple walkie-talkies.

Prosecutors then played three video clips to the court, which apparently showed three separate gunshots in a rural area.

Pang said he was on guard while the other five fired the guns into the grass field, but he was uncertain who actually pulled the trigger. He added that they collected the shell case and disposed them into the sea as they departed.

Ng also tested the explosive and hid its remnant in a slope, the witness said.

Pang will continue his testimony when the trial resumes on Tuesday.

Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”