Jimmy Lai launches English news channel to push for sanctions on China and HK: prosecution

The trial of Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, who is accused of conspiring to commit foreign collusion and publish seditious material, enters its fifth day on Wednesday, with the prosecution presenting multiple Apple Daily articles or media contents in court as it continues to deliver its opening statement.

Deputy director of public prosecutions Anthony Chau Tin-hang continued to present the case today.

The prosecution said Lai instructed the managerial staff of Apple Daily to launch an English channel in May 2020 to win more support from the United States on the promotion of imposing sanctions on Chinese and SAR officials.

The prosecution also stated that Lai launched an online media program - Live Chat with Jimmy Lai - to discuss the sanction approaches with several foreign officials and scholars.

Lai was said to have asked the news desk not to direct criticism against Donald Trump, the US president at the time, as Apple Daily relies on Trump's government support to “survive.”

Chau also cited Lai’s WhatsApp chat record with Apple Daily’s then publisher Cheung Kim-hung on Apr 27, 2019, in which he instructed Cheung to interview Lam Wing-kee, owner of Causeway Bay Books who moved to Taipei, in order to “push more people into the street” for demonstrations. Lai also forwarded messages from Hong Kong Watch founder Benedict Roger regarding an interview with former governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten.

Chau then cited various headlines from Apple Daily from April 2019 to June 2020, saying the 31 examples of news articles published between June 2019 to June 2020, had made seditious statements to China and HKSAR governments, not only against the bill but also against the regime and the country’s political order.

One of the headlines on May 21, 2019, which covered Lai’s speech at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club Hong Kong on the previous day, and Chau said Lai had used various ways to denounce the Chief Executive, as well as the Beijing and the SAR governments.

Chau also mentioned several of Lai’s commentaries from his Apple Daily column “Swim or Sink, Smile”, in which he said Lai had repeatedly called on readers participating in rallies, and said with “strong international support”, that Hong Kong can have universal elections.

In one of the articles submitted by the prosecutors, Lai cited the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act in the US and said despite the anti-ELAB movement having great casualties, the bill has retreated and the US passed the bill.

He also said the movement must go on and cited former lawmaker Lee Wing-tat saying pro-democracy primaries will be the most effective way.

National security judge Alex Lee Wan-tang asked if Chau was suggesting Lai engaged in “multiple conspiracies” by mentioning the article evidence, which Chau said all of these articles were pointing to one single conspiracy agreement in Lai’s first seditious charge.

Representatives from overseas consulates in Hong Kong, including the US, UK, Canada, and France on behalf of the European Union, came to the trial today.

Lai on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to three charges of sedition and collusion with foreign countries. The high-profile trial, presided over by a panel of three handpicked national security judges rather than a jury, is expected to last 80 days.

(Updated at 4.52 pm)