Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai denies colluding with ex-US diplomat who suggested global protests

Former media boss maintained friendship with retired official but says he rejected suggestion by James Cunningham to instigate anti-China moves

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Jimmy Lai denies colluding with former US Consul General James Cunningham, who in a group chat suggested applying pressure on Chinese authorities. Photo: AP

Published: 7:14pm, 10 Dec 2024Updated: 7:54pm, 10 Dec 2024

Former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has denied colluding with a retired US diplomat to allow Washington’s intervention in Hong Kong affairs, but said he had maintained contact with the ex-official as he valued his advice and considered their friendship “beneficial” despite the national security law.

Lai told his high-profile trial on Tuesday that James Cunningham, a former US consul general in Hong Kong, had invited him to a WhatsApp chat group in June 2019 so that the retired official could offer “help” to find a solution to the political unrest that gripped the city that year.

The founder of the now-closed Apple Daily tabloid said he rejected a suggestion by Cunningham to instigate anti-China responses from foreign governments as he realised that would constitute a “serious crime”.

Lai continued to explain his thoughts behind his public and private comments regarding Beijing and the national security law, as his oral testimony at West Kowloon Court reached its 14th day.

The former media boss has denied two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces as well as a third count of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications.

The court heard the chat group created by Cunningham also comprised Lai’s right-hand man, Mark Simon, who formerly worked for US naval intelligence, and veteran democrat Martin Lee Chu-ming, the founding chairman of the city’s largest opposition group, the Democratic Party.