Hong Kong paper Apple Daily played up Beijing Covid cover-up fears, court hears in Jimmy Lai’s national security trial
Hong Kong Free Press
Jimmy Lai, the founder of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, thought the Chinese government had covered up the Covid-19 epidemic, a former publisher at the paper said as she continued testifying against her former employer in his national security trial.
Former associate publisher Chan Pui-man told a panel of three designated national security judges on Friday that the now-defunct newspaper would play up concerns about Beijing allegedly covering up the Covid-19 outbreak.
Chan is among six senior Apple Daily employees who pleaded guilty to conspiring to collude with foreign forces in November 2022 and will be sentenced after Lai’s trial, which is expected to last 80 days.
Lai is being tried before three judges handpicked by the government to oversee national security cases, and no jury, a departure from the city’s common law system.
In addition to reports on outbreaks and medical breakthroughs, the paper also paid particular attention to whether the Chinese government had covered up the outbreak, and whether foreign governments would question Beijing’s integrity as a result, Chan added.
Lai’s view that the Chinese government had covered up the Covid-19 epidemic had a bearing on the Apple Daily’s editorial direction, Chan said, adding that the paper used the name “Wuhan Pneumonia” when referring to the Covid-19 epidemic.
The prosecution presented an article in Lai’s personal column, titled “The plague of Wuhan, the death knell of the [Chinese Communist Party],” in which the mogul wrote that then-chief executive Carrie Lam’s government was “the reason why the anti-[extradition] movement [was] going on endlessly.”
“The relationship between the people of Hong Kong and the government is a long-term resistance movement. We must be fully alert and stand together … we have to rise up against it like the medical and nursing staff[,]” Lai wrote.
Whenever overseas scientists, doctors, and academics questioned whether Beijing had orchestrated a cover-up — a concern that Lai shared, senior staff at the paper would make those reports “bigger, or more prominent”, Chan said.
Special reports
The prosecution also continued to question the former associate publisher on Friday morning about a summary of meeting notes sent to her by Apple Daily publisher Cheung Kim-hung. According to the message, Cheung told Chan that overseas freelancers could cover “special reports” internationally.
Chan told the prosecution that “special reports” referred to international news, or news about Hong Kong that may have attracted international attention at the time. That included, but was not limited to reports about the US, Chan confirmed.
Cheung also asked Chan to make special follow-up reports on “big news,” including reports on what had happened to people arrested in relation to the 2019 protests and unrest, according to the messages shown in court.
Chan told the court that the paper did follow up on the topic but was not sure whether it was published as a special feature.
Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment.
In another summary point, Cheung said “big news can instigate different special reports, such as topics of extradition.” Judge Alex Lee then noted the prosecution’s use of the word “instigate,” asking Chan if anything had been instigated by Apple Daily.
The ex-publisher told Lee that she “did not understand,” saying that Cheung may have intended to develop more special reports to meet Lai’s requirements.
Lai’s lawyer Senior Counsel Robert Pang then said the prosecution’s translation “would not be the best translation,” adding that it appeared Cheung did not mean that the paper was instigating something .
Shuttered newsrooms ‘more liberal’
The prosecution then referred to a WhatsApp message from Cheung to Chan dated January 13, 2020, in which he said Lai wanted to follow up on the suggestions at the previous month’s meeting.
“Mr Lai asked to review whether the suggestions last time have been implemented[,]” said Cheung, who had previously asked Chan to have writers from Initium, Stand News, and Citizen News write commentaries for weekends.
Stand News and Citizen News shuttered in December 2021, six months after Apple Daily’s closure in June 2021 after its newsroom was raided by police for a second time and several senior staff were arrested. Initium Media is now based in Singapore.
Responding to the prosecution’s question as to the “angles” of the three online media outlets, she said they were generally “more liberal”.
She told the court that Initium covered Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan, featuring articles by writers based in mainland China, while Stand News would livestream protests in 2019.
“Livestreaming protests means it’s liberal?” Judge Susana D’Almada Remedios asked. Chan then said it was her impression that the three outlets were generally supportive of freedom, democracy, and human rights, as well as causes including LGBTQ rights and equal opportunities.
Apple Daily was one of Hong Kong’s most prominent newspapers and was known for its entertainment coverage as well as its pro-democracy stance.
Lai, who has been detained since December 2020, is one of the most well-known figures to be charged under the national security law, which Beijing imposed in Hong Kong in June 2020 following months of protests and unrest.
Lai’s case is seen globally as a bellwether for the state of press freedom in Hong Kong, although authorities have maintained that the city still enjoys a high degree of media freedoms.
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