Former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has denied seeking a new Cold War through praises he offered on social media to a top US official who called for “a new alliance of democracies” to counter the perceived threat Beijing posed to Hong Kong and other parts of the world.
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Lai on Thursday told his high-profile national security trial that he endorsed on social media a July 2020 speech by then US secretary of state Mike Pompeo calling on the “free world” to “triumph over this new tyranny” that was the Communist Party.
The founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily tabloid newspaper denied instigating anti-China responses from foreign governments, saying he was initially unaware that Pompeo had in the same address offered justifications for US sanctions on mainland Chinese officials and businesses.
Lai’s oral testimony at West Kowloon Court resumed for a 16th day, as he explained comments he made on Twitter, now known as X, after Beijing’s imposition of the national security law in June, 2020.
The court has recorded a not guilty plea from the 77-year-old on two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces, as well as on a third count of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications.
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Lai, in a text conversation with former Apple Daily publisher Yeung Wai-hong, appeared to take joy from the possibility that Pompeo’s speech, delivered on July 23, 2020, might reinvigorate conflicts between China and the United States amid an ongoing trade war.