Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai says ‘not worried’ about being national security law target

Former Hong Kong media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has provided details about his knowledge of a prosecution witness on the seventh day of his oral testimony in his national security trial.

Lai, 77, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the 2020 security law, and a third count of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications in breach of colonial-era legislation.

The court was set to hear Lai explain his knowledge of activist turned prosecution witness Andy Li Yu-hin on Friday.

A day earlier, the ex-media owner told the court he “kind of” conducted lobbying during a 2019 meeting with then-United States vice-president Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state at the time.

But he stressed that the lobbying to him meant “international support” and it would involve Hongkongers conducting “demonstrations on a moral high ground” and gaining sympathy from the international community.

He denied allegations from paralegal Wayland Chan Tsz-wah, who became a prosecution witness after pleading guilty to colluding with foreign forces, that Lai wished young campaigners go against authorities and overthrow the Chinese regime in the future.

The court has also heard details about Lai’s meeting with Chan and UK-based activist Finn Lau Cho-dik, known as “Mutual Destruction Bro”, in Taiwan in January 2020.