Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai denies being US or Taiwan agent in bid to rebuild ties

Lai also testifies that he advised a Taiwan official to enter long-term trade agreements with the US, rather than relying solely on goodwill

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Jimmy Lai has resumed explaining his dealings with the United States and Taiwan to a court. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 4:05pm, 20 Jan 2025Updated: 8:17pm, 20 Jan 2025

Former Hong Kong media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying denied acting as an agent for the US or Taiwan but said on Monday that he had been “happy” to help rebuild diplomatic ties between both sides by arranging for an ex-American official to advise the self-ruled island on foreign policy.

Lai also testified during his marathon national security trial that he advised a Taiwan official to enter long-term trade and services agreements with the United States instead of being wholly dependent on the country’s “goodwill”.

The founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily tabloid continued to explain his dealings with the US and Taiwan before the national security law took effect in Hong Kong in June 2020, as prosecutors resumed cross-examining him on the 29th day of his oral testimony at West Kowloon Court.

Lai, 77, is contesting two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces and a third of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications.

Prosecutors are seeking to establish a case that Lai had influenced foreign policy on mainland China by acting as a “middleman” between the American and Taiwanese governments as early as in 2017 after Donald Trump first became president of the United States.

They highlighted the role of James Cunningham, a former US consul general in Hong Kong between 2005 and 2008, who was recommended by Lai to work for the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington.