Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai backed second Donald Trump term, told Apple Daily not to target then-US president, court hears

Media tycoon Lai believed Trump would take hardline approach towards mainland China through imposing ‘large-scale sanctions’, prosecution witness says

‘Mr Lai was expecting Donald Trump to strike very soon, so [he] instructed us not to use so many foreign agencies’ reports that targeted Trump,’ he adds

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Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai instructed Apple Daily staff not to target then-US president Donald Trump, a court has heard. Photo: AP

Published: 5:55pm, 26 Jan 2024Updated: 9:06pm, 26 Jan 2024

Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying told his now-defunct Apple Daily tabloid staff not to target then-US president Donald Trump in his failed 2020 election campaign because he believed the Republican was more likely to take a hardline approach on mainland China than eventual winner Joe Biden, a court heard on Friday.

Ex-publisher and defendant turned prosecution witness Cheung Kim-hung said the tycoon had looked to Trump to impose “large-scale sanctions” on the mainland, as evidenced in a May 2020 campaign for Hongkongers to petition the then president to “save” Hong Kong from the looming Beijing-decreed national security law.

“Mr Lai very much hoped that Donald Trump could win a second term,” Cheung told West Kowloon Court as Lai’s national security trial entered its 17th day.

“Because Trump had said something along the lines that if China went ahead with the national security law, it would be met with serious consequences.

“Mr Lai was expecting Donald Trump to strike very soon, so [he] instructed us not to use so many foreign agencies’ reports that targeted Trump.”

In a June 2020 text message addressed to Cheung and Eric Chen Yu-hsin, then publisher of Apple Daily’s Taiwan edition, Lai said: “Please ask international desk colleagues to avoid targeting Trump the way New York Times and CNN do. We Apple need the Trump administration’s support to survive.”