By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-20 08:21:17 | Updated at 2025-01-20 11:16:58
3 hours ago
Former Hong Kong media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has denied acting as an agent for the United States or Taiwan but said he was “happy” to help rebuild diplomatic ties between both sides by arranging for an ex-American official to advise the self-ruling island on foreign policy.
Lai on Monday also testified during his marathon national security trial that he advised a Taiwan official to enter long-term trade and services agreements with the US 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 United States and Taiwan before the national security law took effect in Hong Kong in June 2020, as prosecutors resumed cross-examining Lai 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 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.
