Jimmy Lai says he opposed US decision to end Hong Kong’s special trade status

Any change to Hong Kong’s preferential trade status in the United States would be counterproductive, former media boss tells trial

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Jimmy Lai leaves West Kowloon Court in a prison vehicle after his ninth day in the witness box on Tuesday. Photo: Edmond So

Published: 7:46pm, 3 Dec 2024

Former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has said he opposed Washington’s decision to end Hong Kong’s preferential trade treatment after the national security law was adopted in 2020 as the US’ move would make the city more vulnerable to mainland Chinese “interference”.

Lai told his high-profile national security trial on Tuesday that he had hoped for “harsher” sanctions from Washington to prevent Beijing imposing what he believed would be a “very draconian and damaging” law on Hong Kong to stifle dissent and destroy the city’s democratic institutions.

But any change to Hong Kong’s special trade status in the United States would be counterproductive, he said, as it could also dampen residents’ hopes for a city free of Beijing’s influence.

“Because it undermined Hong Kong’s status as an international trade centre, and which undermined the [economic] value of Hong Kong,” Lai told West Kowloon Court.

“The less value we are to China, the more vulnerable we are to their interference.”

The founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper was explaining his thoughts behind a commentary he wrote for The New York Times on May 29, 2020, after then US secretary of state Mike Pompeo declared Hong Kong was “no longer autonomous” from mainland China.