Jimmy Lai trial hears British MPs visited Hong Kong to watch 2019 district council election; ex-governor Chris Patten asked to weigh in on 2020 national security law

Court hears lobbying group paid more than £75,000 to two British consultancy firms to help develop network of UK parliamentarians

Detained activist Andy Li explains rationale behind effort to urge Britain to take action against Hong Kong government in July 2019 as Lai’s trial enters 46th day

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Copies of Apple Daily at a newspaper stand. The now-closed tabloid approved the use of Margaret Thatcher photo for an activist’s campaign. Photo: AP

Published: 4:50pm, 15 Mar 2024Updated: 9:18am, 18 Mar 2024

An international lobbying campaign said to have been supported by media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying engaged British politicians to observe a Hong Kong election and asked the city’s last governor Chris Patten to express “concerns” about the Beijing-imposed 2020 national security law, a court heard on Friday.

Andy Li Yu-hin, a detained activist, said a lobbying group led by UK-based Hong Kong campaigner Finn Lau Cho-dik paid more than £75,000 to two British consultancy firms to help develop a network of UK parliamentarians and organise rallies and other events to drum up support for Hong Kong’s democracy.

West Kowloon Court heard the London-based Whitehouse Consultancy, one of the firms engaged by Lau’s team, arranged for British MPs to examine Hong Kong’s district council election in November 2019, which was held amid anti-government protests.

Li said the lobbying group had also worked with Benedict Rogers, the co-founder of pressure group Hong Kong Watch, and got in touch with Patten, who backed a joint statement in May 2020 that condemned Beijing for its “flagrant breach” of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration with its proposed national security legislation for Hong Kong.

Finn Lau and those helping him in the UK intended to use a picture showing a handshake between Thatcher and a Chinese official for promotional purposes. Photo: Facebook/Finn Lau

Lai, 76, faces two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces under the Beijing-decreed national security law, and a third count of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications under colonial-era legislation.