Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai hailed US for antagonising Beijing and said it was right time for Washington’s ‘full-scale war’ on Xi administration, court hears
- Lai’s comments triggered by former US vice-president Mike Pence’s speech in 2018, where American leader accused China of expanding interests on US soil, court hears
- Tycoon had said US assessed Xi’s position was weak and wanted to lead the West, Japan to adjust their China policies, according to text message
Prosecutors on Monday drew West Kowloon Court’s attention to Lai’s comments after a speech by then-US vice-president Mike Pence in October 2018, where he accused China of using its political, economic and military apparatus to expand its influence and interests on American soil.
“A table flip,” the tycoon said in a text message to Yeung Ching-kee, a former Apple Daily editorial writer who was testifying for the prosecution.
“The United States’ intention to lead the West and countries like Japan to adjust their China policies cannot be clearer. It comes in the face of Xi’s weak position [in China]. The timing is just right!”
The tycoon added the United States was adding insult to injury by declaring not just a trade war against China, but a “full-scale war”.
Yeung, under the pseudonym “Li Ping”, in Apple Daily’s editorial published the next day, said Pence’s speech was an official call to arms against the Chinese Communist Party and likened his remarks to Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech at the start of the Cold War in 1946.
Yeung also shed light on the dilemma for Hong Kong over which side to take in the Sino-US crossfire and highlighted the potential consequences of confrontation with the United States, such as punitive tariffs.
The defendant-turned-witness said on Monday that Lai radicalised his now-closed tabloid to suit the changing needs of the market and its readers, but added he was unsure about what his former boss intended to achieve.
‘Lai’s tabloid ran articles to promote US sanctions after Hong Kong Autonomy Act’
Yeung said the newspaper’s change of stance was evident in the coverage of the 2019 anti-government protests, where it encouraged the public to take to the streets and promoted solidarity among peaceful and violent protesters.
Lai, 76, has denied two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces under the Beijing-decreed national security law, as well as a third count of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications under colonial-era legislation.
Yeung, who oversaw Apple Daily’s comment section, earlier testified that after the national security law came into force in June 2020, Lai and Apple Daily implicitly promoted international sanctions with articles that analysed the impact of such penalties against mainland Chinese and Hong Kong officials.
Apple Daily published ‘grey area’ articles in sanctions bid, Hong Kong court told
Ivan Cheung Cheuk-kan, for the prosecution, referred to two commentary articles by Lai dated July and August that year, where the tycoon said the strained relationship between China and the West was “temporarily irreversible” and that the party would “meet its doom” if it decided to resist the United States.
Yeung said the articles reflected Lai’s views on sanctions and his approval of their impact on the country.
Cheung also highlighted Apple Daily’s use of articles by commentator Sang Pu, who Yeung said was a supporter of Hong Kong independence.
Yeung emphasised the tabloid’s forum page did not allow pro-independence articles and Sang’s published work avoided that topic.
The trial was adjourned until Thursday, when Lai’s legal team is expected to start its cross-examination of Yeung.
