Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai clarifies he was seeking US help, not the CIA’s

Ex-media boss says he was just regurgitating rumour floating around at the time and used the CIA and US interchangeably

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Jimmy Lai has told the court he was not worried about being a target of the national security law before the legislation was enacted in June 2020. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:23pm, 2 Dec 2024Updated: 6:23pm, 2 Dec 2024

Former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has downplayed an earlier call he made for the CIA to get involved in Hong Kong affairs as he returned to court for an eighth day of verbal testimony in his national security trial.

Lai, 77, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the 2020 security law, and a third count of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications in breach of colonial-era legislation.

Appearing in the witness box at West Kowloon Court on Monday for a third week, Lai was questioned by his counsel about his efforts to garner international support for the 2019 anti-government protests.

Also under the spotlight were several commentaries he penned for foreign news outlets and an interview he gave to Taiwanese media, as he sought to clarify his call for the “Central Intelligence Agency and the US” to influence the city’s affairs.

On the seventh day of giving oral testimony last week, Lai told the court he was not worried about being a target of the national security law before the legislation was enacted in June 2020.

But in the meantime, he hoped “more draconian sanctions” would come from then US president Donald Trump to stop Beijing from imposing the national security law on Hong Kong, as he previously said he thought his Apple Daily tabloid newspaper would not survive after the legislation was enacted.