Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai denies his call for Xi to step down equals incitement

Testimony by Apple Daily founder centres on comments he made during online broadcast series in which he argued Covid pandemic had revealed danger of Beijing’s control of information

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Jimmy Lai earlier said he believed Chinese President Xi Jinping did not understand global affairs and “treated the world as if he was treating the people who are subservient to him”. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:43pm, 19 Dec 2024

Former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has told his national security trial in Hong Kong that the Covid-19 pandemic showed mainland China would be a “danger” to the world unless the regime changed by accepting Western democratic values and granted greater freedoms to its people.

Lai on Thursday also dismissed a notion raised during the proceedings that he had incited public hatred towards Chinese President Xi Jinping by suggesting the Communist Party could solve the tensions the country had with overseas governments by him stepping down and ceasing to dictate the direction of the party

On the 21st day of oral testimony at West Kowloon Court, the Apple Daily tabloid founder continued to offer justifications for his allegedly offensive remarks made in the online broadcast series “Live Chat with Jimmy Lai”, in which he shared his political views with mostly overseas guests.

The 77-year-old has denied two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces under the national security law, and a third count of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications in breach of colonial-era legislation.

Prosecutors have alleged the shows formed part of a conspiracy by Lai and Apple Daily staff to instigate international sanctions and incite public hatred towards central and local authorities.

In an episode aired on September 17, 2020, Lai echoed a guest speaker’s analogy drawing similarities between the coronavirus pandemic and the Pearl Harbour attack, saying the mainland’s threat to the world was akin to the danger posed to the United States by Japan during wartime.