Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai set up English language Apple Daily in bid to win US support, stave off possible Beijing crackdown, court hears
- Prosecution starts fifth day of trial with spotlight on Lai’s editorial leadership at tabloid and alleged bid to win support from then US president Donald Trump
- Court told Lai highlighted financial and political clout gained if top US politicians subscribed to English language digital version
An English language edition of the now-closed Apple Daily tabloid was created at founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s request in a bid to drum up international support and head off a potential crackdown on the newspaper by mainland Chinese authorities, a Hong Kong court heard on Wednesday.
Prosecutors pressed on with their opening arguments at West Kowloon Court on the fifth day of the high-profile national security trial, and switched their attention to Lai’s editorial leadership at the newspaper and allegations that he instigated further unrest during the 2019 anti-government protests.
Anthony Chau Tin-hang, the deputy director of public prosecutions, highlighted the involvement of United States politicians in the setting up of Apple Daily’s English digital platform, as well as Lai’s alleged attempt to engage former US president Donald Trump in a plot to impose international sanctions on Beijing.
Chau told the court the collusion scheme had continued after the national security law came into force on June 30, 2020, until the newspaper’s closure on June 24 the following year in the wake of a police crackdown.
The 76-year-old businessman has pleaded not guilty to two conspiracy charges of foreign collusion under the Beijing-decreed security law, and a third conspiracy offence based on colonial-era sedition legislation.
Lai, seated in the dock with three prison officers, nodded and smiled to his wife, Teresa Li Wan-kam, and his children, who were in the public gallery.
The tycoon put his palms together in appreciation as supporters waved to him. A man called out “hang in there” and was immediately asked by security guards to remain silent.
Lai accused of seeking ‘political protection’
The prosecution earlier argued Lai was the mastermind of an anti-China conspiracy linked to Apple Daily, where he had complete control over its editorial policies.
Chau on Wednesday said Lai had decided to establish an English digital news outlet to attract international support, designed as a form of “political protection” against Chinese suppression.
The court heard Christian Whiton, a former senior adviser to the US Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, first floated the idea to Lai by email in April 2020, where he was reported to have said an expansion in US readership would be “politically useful if not financially”.
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Lai was said to have echoed the view in later discussions with Apple Daily staff and his associates, and highlighted the financial and political clout that would be generated if prominent US politicians subscribed to the newspaper’s digital content.
“Imagine if we can get Mike Pence to subscribe to [the] Apple Daily app!” Lai said in a text message to his right-hand man Mark Simon, a former US intelligence agent.
“The publicity and respect it [commands] would arouse much support for us. I know it’s almost impossible to pull it off, but can [we] try?”
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Fear of being Beijing’s No 1 target
Lai also said he feared Apple Daily had become Beijing’s No 1 target after the 2019 unrest. He added the English edition could incentivise an American audience to subscribe to it as a show of support for Hong Kong’s “resistance movement”.
The tycoon reportedly asked Simon to appeal to Pence, then the US vice-president, and former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to subscribe to the newspaper’s English version.
He was also said to have sought the help of Mark Clifford, a former editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post, to hire English writers for the new platform.
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Simon suggested trying to enlist James Blaire Cunningham, a former US Consul General to Hong Kong, who he believed could “get a plug” for Apple Daily from Joe Biden, who became the US president in 2021.
The plan for establishing an English version also switched the newspaper’s editorial focus, the prosecution said, with increased coverage of Lai, as well as stories related to Taiwan.
Lai was said to have told Cheung Kim-hung, then Apple Daily’s publisher, to highlight events in Taiwan on the new platform in a bid to attract American readers’ attention.
The tycoon also instructed Simon to consult Bill McGurn, a former chief editorial writer for The Wall Street Journal, as well as seek support from former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten.
Patten later agreed to shoot a video of himself rallying for paid subscriptions for Apple Daily.
The court was told the English platform got a warm response from readers, with more than 180,000 active users logged less than a month after its start-up on May 25, 2020.
‘Political protection’
The court also heard Simon encouraged Lai to start an account on Twitter, the social media site now known as X, as part of an attempt to portray the tycoon as “inseparable” from Apple Daily, as well as boost his international influence.
Lai, in a May 2020 tweet that appealed for overseas backing, said: “Your subscription is more than only financial help but it’s political protection for us against #ccpcrackdown.”
Chau highlighted the fact that most of Lai’s tweets were written in English, said to have been done so he could interact with “external elements”, including those affiliated with the US, the UK and Taiwan.
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Lai, amid the prospect of Beijing imposing the national security law on Hong Kong, was also alleged to have asked Cheung to consider starting an international campaign called “One Hongkonger, One Letter to Save Hong Kong” which invited readers to petition then US president Donald Trump to rescue the city through the use of sanctions against China.
Apple Daily, in line with Lai’s wishes, ran a full, front-page advertisement on May 24 that gave step-by-step instructions on how to ask for Trump’s intervention, along with the hashtag “#TrumpSavesHK”.
The newspaper ran the same ad twice more in the same month.
‘Avoid targeting Trump’
The tycoon was also said to have instructed Apple Daily’s international news desk to avoid casting Trump in a bad light to help with his plan.
“Please ask international desk colleagues to avoid targeting Trump the way New York Times and CNN do,” Lai told Cheung by text. “We Apple need the Trump administration’s support so that our lives will be saved.”
The move did not please everyone – prominent activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung publicly questioned the rationale behind the pleas for overseas support.
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Lai was reported to have said in a private conversation that even old-time friend, veteran opposition figure Martin Lee Chu-ming, did not back his idea, but the tycoon emphasised that Hong Kong had to use whatever avenues were available to secure foreign support.
“What [Wong] says doesn’t matter,” Lai told then Apple Daily associate publisher Chan Pui-man in a text message.
“I know a lot of people don’t agree with this, including Martin, but now is [a] time [of] crisis, we can’t pretend to be careful and clever.”
“The only way is to be brave! There’s no other way to deal with [the Chinese Communist Party] now.”
