The trial of Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai and three companies of “Apple Daily” on charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces continued, and former “Apple Daily” president Cheung Kim-hung continued to testify today. The prosecution asked about the “editorial instructions” issued by Jimmy Lai and Lai’s attitude towards the anti-extradition demonstrations and foreign governments. Cheung Kim-hung pointed out that Jimmy Lai agreed with the US sanctions banning the export of ammunition to Hong Kong, and “spared no efforts to support” the anti-extradition protests. Therefore Apple Daily also focused on covering the anti-extradition law demonstrations at the time.

Cheung Kim-hung pointed out that after Jimmy Lai’s visit to the United States in July 2019, he often talked about foreign sanctions on Hong Kong, such as the then-U.S. President Donald Trump’s signing of bills on human rights and freedom, restrictions on the import of firearms and ammunition to Hong Kong, etc. “Lai was in favor of these sanctions. He thought Trump was a doer and not a talker.” Jimmy Lai also wrote an article in the 25th anniversary special issue of “Apple Daily”, saying, “Now there must be foreign forces! The more foreigners, governments and politicians support us, the more support and diplomatic attention from the world we get, the more we can protect the rule of law and freedom. Long live foreign forces!” Cheung explained that Lai believed that “if foreign countries…if politicians, government officials and others subscribe or support “Apple Daily,” it would offer great political protection to “Apple Daily”.

The prosecution also showed Apple Daily’s reports on the anti-extradition demonstrations, such as “The Dragon Slaying Team Calls on All People to Be Brave and Strike”. Cheung Kim-hung pointed out that the article was in line with Lai’s “editorial policy”, which advocated that “peaceful and valiant protesters shouldn’t be divided,” “If they are divided, some more radical demonstrators will be isolated. This is Mr. Lai’s belief.” He also said, “When he (Lai) went to the demonstration and saw some valiant protesters destroying the store, he didn’t even think it was a big deal. He felt that young people were so brave and so involved in the movement.” Therefore, the Hong Kong “Apple Daily” news team also “almost fully devoted themselves to the report.” Cheung also believed that “Mr. Lai strongly supported young people to protest, praised them for their sacrifice in defending their homeland, and hoped that they would become loyal readers of Apple Daily.” Therefore, he proposed the “Support Student Subscription Plan” in the hope of attracting young readers.

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“Ming Pao” live text updates of the trial:

【16:10】 Today’s trial ended early to allow the parties to sort out the trial documents. The trial will resume at 10:00 tomorrow morning.

【15:48】The court resumed. The prosecution asked how Mark Simon (Jimmy Lai’s assistant) participated in the “One Hongkonger, One Letter to Save Hong Kong” campaign. Cheung said, “I later learned that the English letter may have been drafted by Mark Simon under instructions of Mr. Lai, but I did not confirm that with Mr. Lai.”

【15:26】Adjournment

【15:17】 The prosecution continued to ask how Cheung was involved besides receiving Lai’s instructions at that time. Cheung recalled that on May 22, 2019, “The morning when Mr. Lai was going to court, he had to apply for the return of his passport. I was also in the court because I was going to be his guarantor…” However, the prosecution interrupted Cheung’s testimony and clarified that they wanted to discuss how he participated in the “One Hongkonger, One Letter to Save Hong Kong” campaign. Cheung reiterated that Lai handled the campaign himself.

【14:50】 Cheung continued that in the end, Jimmy Lai decided to “call Hong Kong people online and upload a signed letter to US President Trump.” The template of the letter was provided by Apple Daily. Readers only needed to sign the letter and send it to Trump through social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. The full front page of “Apple Daily” on the 24th, 25th and 27th of the same month mentioned the “One Hongkonger, one letter to save Hong Kong” campaign, with the slogan “Sign your name for Trump, call on the world to support Hong Kong.”

Cheung pointed out that the letter mentioned “international pressure”, which refers to “international pressure on the Chinese Communist Party through taking some adversary actions.” He also emphasized that Jimmy Lai’s word for adversary actions at the time was “sanctions.” Judge Alex Lee asked how the letter was drafted, and Cheung said he didn’t know. “Mr. Lai asked someone to draft it himself.” “He asked other colleagues of our Apple Daily to help and instructed them to put them into a design.”

【14:32】The court began. The prosecution discussed the “One Hongkonger, One Letter to Save Hong Kong” incident that occurred on May 22, 2020, and displayed the messages between Jimmy Lai and Cheung Kim-hung:

Lai: Kim-hung, please consider launching the One Hongkonger, One Letter to Save Hong Kong campaign via Apple Daily. We print the One Hongkonger, One Letter to Save Hong Kong envelopes and distribute them on Sunday or Monday. Each newspaper contains ten envelopes.

Cheung said that the background of the incident was the National People’s Congress Standing Committee’s request to review the National Security Law for the Hong Kong Area. “Mr. Lai sent this message to me early that morning… Calling on Hong Kong people to write to the U.S. President, Vice President, Secretary of State or congressmen.” ”thus causing the U.S. government to “speak out to save Hong Kong.” The prosecution asked what measures would be taken, and Cheung Kim-hung said, “It means asking them to intervene in Hong Kong, whether through sanctions or other methods.”

【12:50】 Adjournment.

【12:30】 Cheung Kim-hung also mentioned the other two “Apple” writers Fung Wai-kong and Yeung Ching-kee, saying that their positions had always been “supporting democracy, freedom and human rights. If they write about the politics of the Chinese Communist Party, they always criticize the Communist Party and be anti-communist.”

The prosecution later showed the messages sent by Jimmy Lai to Cheung Kim-hung on May 17 of the same year. The first paragraph was “Kim-hung, take a look at this speech on Apple Daily’s 25th anniversary. What do you think?” Cheung confirmed that it was the 25th anniversary of Apple Daily at the time, so the editorial department prepared a special issue and invited Lai to write some remarks for the special issue.

The prosecution showed Cheung the remarks written by Lai, including “It’s true that there are no foreign forces among us, but now we must have foreign forces! The more foreigners, governments and politicians support us, the more international support and diplomatic attention, the more we are able to preserve the rule of law and freedom, long live foreign forces!”

Cheung explained that this paragraph means “Foreign countries…if politicians, government officials, etc. subscribe to or support Apple Daily, it will be a great political protection for Apple Daily”, and if they can support Hong Kong, “it will be so important to Hong Kong’s freedom and rule of law. It will be a protection.”

【12:14】 The prosecution showed another message between Jimmy Lai and Cheung Kim-hung, dated April 2020:

Lai: Kim-hung, do you know Yan Chundiao (Yan Chun’gou/ Shn-kau Ngan)? His articles are really good. I want to meet him.

Cheung: Boss, I don’t know him. I’ll ask anyone I know and see if I can get a meeting.

The other is the message between Cheung and Shn-kau Ngan:

Ngan: Thank you, Mr. Cheung. Are you the Saa Daam Hung*, who is famous in the press? One to three articles per week is very flexible, I can accept it and give it a try,

Cheung pointed out that Ngan was “the one who wrote the editorial under the pen name ‘fang yuan’”, and recalled that at that time, he found Ngan’s contact information through an “Apple Daily” columnist named Lee Pik-Wah (Lilian Lee), and personally conveyed to him that “Mr. Lai hopes that you can write one to three articles for the supplement of “Apple Daily” every week.” Later, “Mr. Ngan promptly agreed” and “I reported back to Mr. Lai, and Mr. Lai was very happy.”

Cheung continued to say, “Mr. Lai told me that he (Ngan) is familiar with the Communist Party, so he writes anti-communist articles and articles criticizing the government well.”

【11:52】The court resumed. The prosecution continued the topic of Jimmy Lai’s “editorial policy” and showed the messages between Jimmy Lai and Cheung Kim-hung:

Lai: Kim-hung, after seeing Taiwan’s Apple Daily this morning, I feel that what you said last night was right. The magazine version of Taiwan’s Apple Daily has the form but no substance. The news stories and features are never deep enough. It needs to strengthen its investigation, and do better on discovery and analysis, as well as writing better stories and better headlines. So that it can attract more readers to become members in the future.

Cheung said that the “strengthening” mentioned by Lai at the time meant strengthening the reporting work on Taiwan’s presidential election and deepening the reporting content of Taiwan Apple Daily, such as doing more investigative reporting. “Because at that time, Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP and the KMT’s Han Kuo-yu fought so sharply.” Cheung added that at that time, “Apple Daily” would use “Taiwan Apple Daily’s” reporting content on Taiwan’s election.

【11:09】Adjournment

【11:05】 Cheung Kim-hung confirmed that the multiple “Apple Daily” articles displayed by the prosecution were all written in accordance with the “editorial policy” set by Lai. The prosecution asked Cheung whether he had ever failed to comply with relevant “editorial policies.” Cheung said, “In my memory, I have never not followed Mr. Lai’s instructions.”

【10:50】 The prosecution showed several articles from Apple Daily in 2019, one of which was titled “The Dragon Slaying Team Calls for All People to Fight and Strikes.” Cheung Kim-hung pointed out that the article was in line with the “editorial policy” set by Mr. Lai, who advocated that “peaceful and valiant protesters shouldn’t be divided,” Cheung explained that resistance requires the unity of peaceful people and brave people to be successful. “If they are divided, some more radical demonstrators will be isolated. This is Mr. Lai’s belief.”

When asked by the prosecution what the radical activities were, Cheung said, “At that time, there were so many riots and people smashing up some shops.” Judge Alex Lee asked if that was just Cheung’s personal opinion, or it was Lai’s opinion. Cheung replied, “Sometimes he (Lai) went to a demonstration and saw some valiants smashing up a store. He wouldn’t think it was a big deal. He thought young people were so brave and were so involved in the movement.”

【10:36】 Cheung Kim-hung continued that when Jimmy Lai was not in Hong Kong, he would temporarily host the “lunch box meeting” on Lai’s behalf. In addition, Cheung pointed out that in 2019, “there would be a lot of news about this movement almost every day, so almost all of the (Apple Daily) Hong Kong news team was devoted to reporting”, and described Lai at that time as “sparing no efforts to support the protest movement” and “Mr. Lai would participate in every march, walk on the front, and be responsible for burying the flag, so the company became very involved.”

【10:25】 The prosecution showed a promotional photo of Apple Daily’s launch of a “Student Support Subscription Plan.” Cheung said that the plan was implemented in August of the same year to ask the public for donations to “Apple Daily” so that students can read and watch “Apple Daily” for free. “If someone donates HK$300, a student can enjoy free viewing of “Apple Daily” for one year.”

Cheung also pointed out, “Mr. Lai was very supportive of young people protesting, praising them for their sacrifice in defending their homeland, and hoped that they would become loyal readers of Apple Daily.” The prosecution asked who was the target of the young people’s resistance that was supported by Lai. Cheung responded, “The Chinese Communist Party and the police who used violence to suppress them at that time.”

【10:01】The court was in session. Senior counsel for the defense, Robert Pang Yiu-hong, had been absent from the hearing for two weeks since the 8th of this month due to personal matters. Pang rejoined the trial today.

The prosecution discussed events that occurred in the second half of 2019 and asked about the audience for the “Apple Daily” talk show. Cheung Kim-hung pointed out that the target audience was “Apple Daily” subscribers, “Young people read less physical newspapers… so Apple Daily attached great importance to online videos and wanted to attract young people to watch online news.” He also mentioned, ” in the hope that more young people will watch “anti-extradition” news and videos… and that they would know more about and participate in this movement.”

Cheung also pointed out that after Jimmy Lai’s visit to the United States in July of the same year, there were more and more talks about foreign sanctions on Hong Kong. For example, then-U.S. President Donald Trump signed bills on human rights and freedoms, restrictions on the import of firearms and ammunition to Hong Kong, etc. “ Mr. Lai agreed with these sanctions because he thinks Trump is really doing something and not just talking.”

Ming Pao