Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai told assistant to promote Apple Daily to mobilise ‘international front’ against mainland China, court hears

The ultimate goal was to garner international support for Lai and the newspaper he founded, she said, adding the mogul expected overseas countries to put pressure on China – by imposing sanctions, for example – if Apple Daily was suppressed.

Simon worked as a submarine analyst for US naval intelligence from 1987 to 1991. He arrived in Hong Kong in 2000 and gained permanent residency eight years later.

Jimmy Lai trial told Hong Kong tycoon used political figures to back Apple Daily

Chan’s evidence corroborated the prosecution’s stance that Apple Daily used its English edition to obtain “political protection” from the international community, including the US, and ward off a potential crackdown on the opposition-leaning newspaper by authorities.

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

Prosecutors are seeking to establish a case that Lai had full control over Apple Daily, including its editorial policy, and used the media outlet to facilitate his political agenda.

A prison van carrying Apple Daily’s former associate publisher Chan Pui-man arrives at West Kowloon Court for Jimmy Lai’s national security trial. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Lai, in a series of WhatsApp messages to editorial staff dated May 2020, stressed the English platform should focus on selected news stories about China to woo top overseas politicians, such as then US vice-president Mike Pence.

“Enlisting foreign leaders to subscribe to us is enlisting their support. They of course understand it and that’s why they would do it. Now is a good time to appeal to them when the English version is launched,” he said.

‘Hong Kong’s Lai told Apple Daily to play up Beijing’s alleged Covid cover-up’

West Kowloon Court heard editor-in-chief Ryan Law Wai-kwong, who oversaw Apple Daily’s digital content, at one point suggested engaging local youngsters to write English commentaries for the newspaper so that they could develop their own narratives about Hong Kong on the world stage.

Among the names that floated in the discussion were Yvonne Tong, former presenter for public broadcaster RTHK who triggered a political storm in 2020 after pressing a World Health Organization official on Taiwan’s membership status, and Brian Leung Kai-ping, a fugitive activist now based in the US.

Other proposed ways to publicise Apple Daily overseas included adding English subtitles to Apple Daily’s news videos and providing news digests in English on social media, the court heard.

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