Hong Kong police maintained a heavy presence outside West Kowloon Magistrates Court on Wednesday as jailed pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai testified for the first time in his trial in which he is fighting charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign powers and publishing seditious anti-government material after a harsh new national security law came into force in 2020. Photo by Leung Man Hei/EPA-EFE
Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Jailed former Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai took the stand for the first time Wednesday in his trial on conspiracy to collude with foreign powers and publishing seditious anti-government material after a harsh new national security law was imposed by Beijing in 2020.
The 76-year-old founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, denied in court that he had ever sought to influence the Hong Kong policies of other countries via his high-level contacts overseas, including former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and former Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.
Questioned about meetings with Pence and then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2019, Lai said the meeting with Pence was more of a briefing where he updated him and answered questions about what was going on in Hong Kong.
With Pompeo, Lai -- who has a British passport -- denied asking him to do anything, saying he only asked him to speak out and "to voice support for Hong Kong."
Both men served in the first 2017-2021 administration of Donald Trump who vowed as recently as last month that he would get Lai freed and since he was elected to a second term on Nov. 5 has nominated several China hardliners for his cabinet, including former Sen. Marco Rubio, R, Fla.
While he had never met Trump, Lai said he was acquainted with retired U.S. Army general Jack Keane and former U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, both of whom had the former president's ear in his first term in the Oval Office.
Lai said he had always advocated against the use of violence and strictly enforced an Apple Daily editorial stance opposing independence for Hong Kong, including a hiring ban on staff supporting Hong Kong splitting from China saying the idea was "too crazy" to even contemplate.
He said the charges alleging he was pushing for independence were a "conspiracy" to entrap him.
"I never allowed any of our staff or our newspaper to mention this," he said, adding that he never employed anyone who advocated the idea.
He insisted Apple Daily's core values aligned with those of Hong Kong people, principally, "rule of law, freedom, pursuit of democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of assembly."
Lai, who was first sent to prison in April 2021 after being convicted of participating in unauthorized assemblies during anti-government protests in 2019, is currently serving a five-year and seven-month sentence imposed in December 2022 on "fraud" charges for which he was also fined $33,000 and received an eight-year-ban from heading any company.
If convicted of the latest charges he could be sentenced to life in prison.
Concern is growing over Lai's health as he has been in solitary confinement for most of the time he has been in detention and appeared thin in court.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer raised Lai's case, which he has said is a breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration protecting Hong Kong freedoms for 50 years, when he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro saying he was concerned about "deterioration" in Lai's condition.
Sebastien Lai had pleaded with Starmer to act to "save my father's life," but no apparent change of heart in Beijing following Monday's meeting with China's Foreign Ministry lashing out at Lai on social media on Wednesday calling him a criminal and a traitor.
"Jimmy Lai is the principal mastermind and perpetrator behind the series of riots that shook Hong Kong. He is a lawbreaker and an agent and henchman of those hostile to China," Chinese foreign affairs spokesman Lin Jian wrote in a post on X.
"No one shall escape justice under the rule of law in HK. The HK judiciary functions independently and keeps the court proceedings fair, open and transparent. The central government firmly supports HK in safeguarding national security and upholding justice."
Lai's testimony came a day after another Hong Kong court sentenced 45 pro-democracy legislators, opposition politicians and activists to prison terms of between four years and 10 years in a mass trial on charges of conspiracy to subvert the National Security Law.
