Hong Kong Apple Daily newspaper became ‘radical’ after Jimmy Lai met US top officials in 2019, court hears
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong’s now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper became “radical” after its founder, media mogul Jimmy Lai, met with top US officials including then vice-president Mike Pence amid the 2019 protests and unrest, a court has heard.
Cheung Kim-hung, ex-publisher of Apple Daily, said on Friday that the 76-year-old media mogul was excited about meeting with Pence and then-US secretary of state Mike Pompeo in July 2019 to discuss a since-withdrawn extradition bill, which had triggered city-wide protests and violent clashes between protesters and the police.
“[Lai] believed it would be helpful to the whole [2019 movement],” Cheung said in Cantonese on the 13th day of Lai’s closely-watched national security trial.
The court at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building heard that Lai also discussed the city’s autonomy under the One Country, Two Systems framework and asked senior US officials for “continued attention to the fight in Hong Kong and support for those resisting Beijing’s efforts to erode freedom,” during his visit to Washington.
Protests erupted in June 2019 over a government proposal to amend the city’s extradition arrangement with China, before escalating into sometimes violent displays of dissent and greater calls for democracy.
The former publisher said the staff at Apple Daily got “quite excited” knowing their boss could brief US officials at the White House about the situation in Hong Kong. “There was a strong feeling of hope in the movement,” Cheung said.
Since then, Lai had increasingly made reference to the protests and resistance during editorial meetings or in private conversations, Cheung said. “[Lai] also said the resistance should be carried on in a long-term basis,” he added.
“Apple Daily, therefore, would report the relatively violent or radical scenes of the movement in a sympathetic light,” he said. “And we believed [the movement] was a result of the actions by the government and the Chinese Communist Party.”
Under Lai’s instructions, the Hong Kong news desk of the newspaper had stepped up efforts to invite prominent pro-democracy figures and protesters to appear on a video-taped programme, in which they would share their reasons for taking to the street and what they had been through.
“I felt that Mr Lai’s approach was to arouse the sympathy towards protesters, to stir up sentiments for resistance,” he said.
Cheung, the first accomplice witness to testify against Lai, is among six senior employees at Apple Daily who have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces under the national security law, punishable by life in prison.
The six were charged alongside Lai and had been remanded in custody for over two years. Among them, associate publisher Chan Pui-man and editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee are also set to testify for the prosecution.
Boost protest attendance
Earlier in Friday’s hearing, Cheung said Lai instructed him to conduct an interview with Taiwan-based bookseller Lam Wing-kee for a frontpage story in an attempt to boost attendance for a protest against the extradition bill in April 2019.
Lam, a Hong Kong publisher of gossip titles about China’s leader, disappeared into Chinese custody for half-a-year at the end of 2015. He fled to Taiwan in April 2019 after the announcement of the extradition bill, which would allow extradition to the mainland.
Cheung said he personally conducted the interview with Lam in Taiwan. He sent the draft of the article to then editor-in-chief Ryan Law and associate publisher Chan, highlighting that Lai wished to print it as a lead story to promote an April 28 march, he added.
The court was shown the frontpage story of Apple Daily on April 27, 2019, which included a headline: “Lam Wing-kee in exile to Taiwan; before departing, calls on Hong Kong to take to the street tomorrow,” which Cheung said was written by him.
But Lai was said to be “dissatisfied” and wished to attract further attention to the protest, according to WhatsApp messaging records between him and Cheung, the court was shown.
One of the records read: “Kim-hung, Lam Wing-kee’s news can somewhat help the procession tomorrow, but the street is still too quiet. Please think about what we can do to urge people to go to the street tomorrow. Thanks, Lai.”
Lai was said to had requested Benedict Rogers, a UK-based human rights activist, to interview Chris Patten about his comment on the extradition bill. Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong before the city returned to Chinese rule in 1997, had called the bill an “assault on Hong Kong’s values stability and security.”
Under Lai’s instruction, Patten’s remarks were published online on the webpage of Apple Daily on April 27 and featured in the print newspaper on the day the followed, the former publisher said.
Protesters-related fund
Cheung added that the media mogul had approved an idea to allot one-third of Apple Daily’s subscription revenue to support protesters’ medical and legal expenses, following a large-scale violent clash between protesters and police on June 12, 2019.
On that day, police had used tear gas, rubber bullets and bean bag rounds to clear protesters who attempted to storm the city’s legislature in a display of opposition to the extradition bill.
Lai said that the move would win over people who were sympathetic towards the protesters and they might sign up for a subscription to the newspaper’s digital offering, which was rolled out in July that year.
Lai has denied two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed national security law – which also criminalises secession, subversion, and terrorism – and one count of conspiring to publish “seditious” materials under a colonial-era legislation.
The 76-year-old faces up to life imprisonment if convicted.
The court has, so far, heard allegations that Lai was the “mastermind” of the alleged conspiracies, using Apple Daily as a platform and providing instructions and financial support to his aides to lobby for international sanctions.
During Friday’s hearing, Lai’s counsel Steven Kwan said the media mogul had a hard time reading the evidence on a digital screen due to an eye problem, which had “deteriorated after an operation.”
The trial continues next Tuesday, when Cheung is expected to continue his testimony.
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