Jimmy Lai steered Apple Daily to play up reports of Hong Kong, mainland officials facing possible US sanctions, prosecutors say

Prosecutors highlight July 2020 front-page story about officials facing potential US sanctions after executive order signed by then-president Donald Trump

Story primarily based on news agency report naming China’s vice-president Han Zheng, then-city leader Carrie Lam and security chief Chris Tang as targets

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Jimmy Lai provided editorial guidelines for Apple Daily to play up a story primarily based on a foreign news agency report naming Hong Kong and mainland China officials as potential targets of sanctions, prosecutors say. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 10:23pm, 26 Feb 2024Updated: 10:36am, 27 Feb 2024

Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying steered staff at his Apple Daily tabloid to play up a report on a potential list of city and mainland Chinese officials who could face US sanctions, prosecutors have said at his national security trial.

Prosecutors on Monday highlighted Apple Daily’s front-page story of July 18, 2020, which named the officials facing the prospect of US sanctions in the wake of an executive order signed by then president Donald Trump to penalise them for what was said to be an erosion of the city’s autonomy.

West Kowloon Court heard the story was primarily based on a news agency report published several days before that claimed Trump had decided to sanction China’s vice-premier Han Zheng, now the country’s vice-president, the then Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and police commissioner Chris Tang Ping-keung, now the city’s security chief.

The West Kowloon Law Courts Building. Prosecutors on Monday continued to examine a series of allegedly offensive articles in Apple Daily after the national security law came into force on June 30, 2020. Photo: Dickson Lee

Ivan Cheung Cheuk-kan, for the prosecution, suggested that Apple Daily highlighted the news agency report in line with instructions from Lai, who was said to have asked then associate publisher Chan Pui-man to draw up a sanction list for the Trump administration after the executive order was signed.

Cheung also questioned why a supplementary article in the tabloid’s report purported to analyse possible further actions by the United States and their impact without identifying its source.

Chan, a defendant turned prosecution witness, stood by the paper’s decision to use the report by news agency Bloomberg and said Apple Daily had often referred to stories by foreign media agencies.

“Bloomberg said in its report they had secured those names. We citing the Bloomberg report should not pose any problems,” she said as the trial entered its 32nd day.