Jailed Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai told a US think tank in 2019 that Hong Kong was fighting a new Cold War with China at “the frontier,” the tycoon’s national security has heard.
A person holds a yellow umbrella, a symbol of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, as police officers stand outside West Kowloon Law Courts Building on November 20, 2024, ahead of detained media mogul Jimmy Lai testifying for the first time in his national security trial. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Lai, 76, continued to take the witness stand on Monday as his high-profile trial entered its 100th day.
The Apple Daily newspaper founder has pleaded not guilty to two conspiracy charges of colluding with foreign forces under a Beijing-imposed national security law, and a third charge of conspiring to publish “seditious” materials under colonial-era legislation.
Giving evidence for an eighth day, Lai was asked by his lawyers to explain a broadcast conversation he had with US think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies in July 2019, when Hong Kong was embroiled in citywide pro-democracy protests and unrest.
During that talk, which took place after the tycoon met with ex-US vice president Mike Pence and ex-secretary of state Mike Pompeo, the tycoon urged the US to “support” Hong Kong in its resistance against China as a new Cold War was unfolding.
Chart showing legal cases faced by Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, on trial on national security charges since December 18, 2023. Chart: Nick Shearman.
“Hong Kong is fighting a war of the same values as you. It means that we’re fighting your war in your enemy camp. We need your support,” Lai told an audience in Washington, the court heard.
He also said Washington’s moral authority was akin to a “nuclear weapon,” which could “finish [China] in a minute.”
“It’s just a metaphor, just an expression,” Lai told the court after the presiding judges questioned why he described US’s moral authority as a nuclear weapon.
“I did not mean a real nuclear weapon here, because China also has nuclear weapons,” he said. “But they don’t have moral authority.”
‘Most powerful weapon’
Lai said he believed that the West had a moral high ground over China “even until now,” a stance which was also demonstrated in his op-eds published by international media outlets during the 2019 unrest.
In a piece published by The New York Times in July 2019, Lai wrote: “The West’s moral authority is its most powerful weapon. Moral authority is where China is most vulnerable to humiliation, at home and abroad.”
He told the court that by moral authority he meant being “righteous,” “just,” “fair,” as well as being “in the truth and what is right.”
In another piece published by The Wall Street Journal in September 2019, Lai wrote that Hong Kong demonstrated the “moral failings” of China, and that world markets would also discover the shortcomings of the nation’s economic model.
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.
“The China-US trade war is an epochal event that can push China to the brink of collapse, especially if the US links its values and human rights to its dealings with China,” he wrote in the WSJ op-ed, published one day ahead of China’s national day.
Lai told the court that – if the US stressed human rights in its interactions with China – it would force the latter to comply with the “international core value system.”
But Judge Esther Toh appeared unconvinced, saying that Lai was, in fact, referring to Western values when he wrote about an international system.
In response, Lai said the West’s core values were the “abiding system” in the world in terms of trade.
The tycoon was also asked to explain his activities on Twitter, now known as X, before and after the Beijing-imposed security law came into effect in June 2020.
The court earlier heard Lai had allowed Apple Daily columnist Simon Lee to handle his Twitter account on his behalf because he did not know how to add hashtags or make a tweet.
In a tweet dated July 2020, shortly after the enactment of the security law, Lai thanked the US for two bills granting refugee status and special immigration arrangements to Hong Kong residents.
Lai told the court that international support was still important to the city’s pro-democracy movement, despite the enactment of the security law: “To support Hong Kong [is] to make sure that Hong Kong’s freedom is not eroded as badly as possible.”
But he added that it was merely a hope and he did not think about specific types of support as he was “desperate.”
In that interview, Lai said in Mandarin: “Foreign forces are what we really need to enable us to sustain our movement.”
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.
He told the court that foreign forces meant “the international community and foreign governments.”
Asked what he was expecting from the international community, Lai said: “to voice out for us, to talk to the Chinese for us, to deal with the Chinese for us.”
“Or even to censure the Chinese for us,” Lai said after a pause.
The defence is expected to further examine Lai’s articles and interviews when trial resumes on Tuesday.
