Jimmy Lai trial: Ex-US diplomat in Hong Kong advised Apple Daily on story about US meeting, ex-publisher says
Hong Kong Free Press
A former US top diplomat in Hong Kong advised Apple Daily newspaper on its coverage of a March 2019 meeting between then-US vice-president Mike Pence and a pro-democracy delegation from the city, a witness told the trial of the former newspaper owner Jimmy Lai.
Cheung Kim-hung, the former publisher of the now-defunct Apple Daily, on Thursday continued to testify against his ex-boss Lai in his closely-watched national security trial. The prosecution witness has pleaded guilty to conspiring to collude with foreign forces, a charge which Lai also faces and which is punishable by life imprisonment.
Lai had instructed him via WhatsApp to bolster the newspaper’s coverage of the meeting between Pence and Hong Kong’s former chief secretary Anson Chan and “to use it to the maximum effect,” Cheung told the court in Cantonese as the trial entered its 12th day at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building.
He said Lai had forwarded to him a message from former US diplomat James Cunningham, who also advised Apple Daily to highlight its coverage of the matter. Cunningham was the US Consul General for Hong Kong and Macau between 2005 and 2008.
In March 2019, Chan led a delegation of pro-democracy politicians to the US and met Pence to discuss a controversial extradition amendment bill and issues surrounding the implementation of One Country, Two Systems – a governing framework which promised Hong Kong would maintain its way of life and civil liberties after the handover of the British colony in 1997.
See also: Top US officials express concern over Hong Kong freedoms as democrats shore up support
The meeting was featured on the front page of Apple Daily with a Chinese-language headline that read “Pence met with Mrs. Chan, expressed concerns about Hong Kong’s human rights,” the prosecution showed the court.
Lead prosecutor Anthony Chau asked Cheung to elaborate on the meaning of “using [a news] to its maximum effect” and his response to Lai and Cunningham’s messages.
Cheung, also the CEO of Apple Daily’s parent company, Next Digital, said that he sought to maximise the coverage with then editor-in-chief Ryan Law, including an attempt to interview Anson Chan and members of her delegation about the the meeting, as well as placing the news story on the top of the outlet’s website and mobile app.
“I told Law to gather as much information about the meeting as possible, and to place the story in the focus,” he said. “We could constantly update the online version of the story, to further enrich it as new information emerged.”
He said he also passed Lai’s instructions to associate publisher Chan Pui-man, who was in charge of the outlet’s print operations.
Cheung, Chan and Law are among six senior staffers awaiting sentencing after they pleaded guilty in November 2022 to conspiring to commit collusion. They have been remanded in custody since they were first brought to court in June and July 2021.
Associate publisher Chan and editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee are also set to testify against their ex-boss.
‘To reach US readers’
Cheung also told the court that the media mogul wanted an English version of Apple Daily launched in May 2020 to reach US readers, hoping they would become the “lever” between his newspaper and US politics.
Lai had “made it very clear at the onset” that he would like the English version to represent the political stances of Apple Daily, which were “pro-resistance” and “anti-authorities,” Cheung said.
The former publisher added that senior editors were following Lai’s “framework” to select content for the English version of Apple Daily, which had to be “anti-Hong Kong government and anti-Chinese Communist Party.”
On Wednesday, his first day of testimony, Cheung described Lai as the “top leader” and “ultimate decision-maker” who would set the editorial direction of Apple Daily. He, as the CEO, would carry out Lai’s orders.
Lai faces two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed national security law, which also criminalises secession, subversion, and terrorism. He also stands accused of one count of conspiring to publish “seditious” materials under a colonial-era law.
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.
Cheung will continue his testimony on Friday. The prosecution has estimated he will be on the stand for a week.
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