Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai wanted to “lead” protesters in 2019 amid concerns that the violent actions of “radicals” would threaten the movement’s international support, an activist has testified during the Apple Daily founder’s national security trial.
Paralegal Chan Tsz-wah, who stands accused alongside Lai and is now testifying against him, said on Tuesday that the media mogul hoped to set up a leadership group to re-orient radical protesters in 2019. Lai hoped to establish peaceful, non-violent actions as the primary mode of protest after a man who expressed pro-establishment views was set on fire, Chan said.
Lai, 76, is on trial for two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and one count of conspiring to publish “seditious” materials. He has pleaded not guilty to all three charges and could face life imprisonment if convicted.
Chan told the court on Tuesday that he helped Lai’s aide Mark Simon set up a meeting in September 2019 between US Senator Rick Scott and two other activists – Andy Li, who was charged alongside Lai and Chan, and testified against Lai earlier, as well as a frontline protester identified by Chan as “Cath.”
But Simon asked Chan to tell the two activists not to mention anything about a group known as “JD team.”
Chan explained that the group were proponents of “mutual destruction,” which he described as a “radical” ideology that was prone to being conflated with Hong Kong independence – a cause that US politicians such as Scott, at the time a presidential candidate, would not endorse.
Losing ‘moral high ground’
The prosecution on Tuesday presented WhatsApp messages from Lai to Chan saying that he “dreaded” the scene of the man getting set on fire. “It’s about time the young and brave should have a leadership,” Lai wrote in a message.
Chan recalled a dinner meeting he attended in November 2019, in which Lai and three democrats – former Democratic Party chairman Lee Wing-tat, Democratic Party founder Martin Lee and then-lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting – were present.
“Lai said [at the meeting that] the radical protesters were not organised… and were getting more and more abusive and violent,” Chan said. “[Lai believed that] if there was any loss of life, the whole movement would lose its moral high ground… and lose support from the international community.”
The three democrats in the meeting agreed with Lai, Chan said.
At the meeting, Lai again requested Chan to convince frontline protesters to exercise restraint and shift towards peaceful, rational, and non-violent actions as the primary mode of protest, Chan told the court.
Later that month, during the siege at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Lai asked Chan for updates about the frontline protesters who entered the university campus, the paralegal testified.
Asked why Lai was concerned with the frontliners, Chan said Lai believed the weaker the influence of the radical protesters, the “healthier” the entire movement would be. There would be far fewer violent scenes, which would “meet the expectations” of the West, Chan recalled Lai saying.
Lai also told him that there were “specific lines” that could not be crossed, Chan said. The mogul said there could not be any fatalities, either of police, civilians or protesters, and that there could not be “rampant violence.”
‘Big stage’
Chan said that in the lead up to the District Council elections in November 2019, Lai hoped the radical protesters would not engage in violent acts. Lai also said that he hoped to create a “big stage” – Cantonese slang for a central leadership team – that would oversee both radical and non-violent protesters.
Lai later repeated the same idea, Chan said. The prosecution displayed messages between Lai and Chan from November 27, 2019, in which Lai said that ever since “PolyU got out of hand,” he had been thinking that now “was the time” to set up a leadership team.
The media mogul was referring to the days-long siege at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University at the end of November, when protesters and police officers engaged in violent confrontations.
The paralegal said Lai asked Chan to get in touch with leaders of the radical protesters, but he was unable to contact them. He added that he had earlier spoken with somebody who knew such a leader, and that this person called the idea of setting up a centralised platform “terrible.”
The person also did not believe Chan when he said the idea came from Lai, retorting “[if he is] Jimmy Lai, then I am Donald Trump.”
The trial continues on Wednesday.
Help safeguard press freedom & keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team
