BREAKING NEWS: JIMMY LAI WAS TODAY FOUND GUILTY of illegal collusion with foreign forces to hurt Hong Kong.
The decision follows lengthy trial in which overwhelming evidence was presented against him – a lot of which came from the Apple Daily publisher’s own phone, filled with secret messages from hostile political operatives in the US and the UK.
The court also heard about the massive distribution of secret cash from Lai and his assistant Mark Simon to fund anti-China groups in Hong Kong working under “pro-democracy” banners. These payments were ON TOP of overt and covert financing from US regime-change organizations.
The guilty conclusion was seen as further inevitable after numerous members of Jimmy Lai’s senior staff and other associates pleaded guilty to related charges, including one who said a bank account had been set aside for funding “from foreign forces”.
Here are seven myths about Jimmy Lai—and the truth.
[Watch the video below or scroll down for the written version.]
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1. JIMMY LAI IS A PUBLISHER LOCKED UP FOR SPEAKING UP FOR THE PEOPLE OF HONG KONG, right?
WRONG. NOT TRUE.
Jimmy Lai of Apple Daily worked for the United States government, not for Hong Kong people.
His assistant Mark Simon was the son of a man who worked for the CIA for 35 years. Mark himself worked in US military intelligence from 1987 to 1991 before moving to Hong Kong and working closely with anti-China campaigner Jimmy Lai.
Lai liked to remind US administrations that he was fighting on their side. For example, he went to the White House on 10th of July 2019 and said: “We are fighting your war in your enemy camp.” He made the same point at a seminar on the same tour.
When the White House prepared to pass bills that would badly hurt the Hong Kong people, they would secretly show Jimmy Lai first – in every case, he told them to go right ahead: DO IT, DO IT, DO IT.
The trial heard numerous instances of this.
This is undeniable evidence that he worked directly to hurt the Hong Kong people, on behalf of the US authorities.
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2. JIMMY LAI’S TRIAL WAS UNFAIR.
NOT TRUE.
International legal indexes have long rated the Hong Kong legal system higher than other equivalents in Asia and many countries in the west, including the United States. [chart in video]
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3. JIMMY LAI RAN A PRO-DEMOCRACY NEWSPAPER.
NOT TRUE.
Apple Daily was an anti-China newspaper which successfully campaigned AGAINST democracy. It opposed the Hong Kong authorities’ attempt to introduce universal suffrage for the city in 2017, telling representatives to reject it on the basis that an electoral committee would be involved in the candidate selection process.
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4. JIMMY LAI IS A HEROIC FIGHTER FOR JUSTICE AND TRUTH
NOT TRUE.
Lai’s political views were hard right. He’s a huge fan of Donald Trump and is hostile to migrants.
Apple Daily popularized the term “locusts” for immigrants who came to Hong Kong from Mainland China.
His paper regularly praised people who smashed up or set fire to shops and cafes owned by such immigrant families.
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5. APPLE DAILY WAS A BRAVE, CRUSADING NEWSPAPER.
GET REAL!
Apple Daily was like the UK’s “news of the world” but worse. It was a sex-and-scandal tabloid with a daily “porn page”.
The paper was famed for its misogynistic coverage of actresses’ private lives. Reporters repeatedly ended up in court. The company would pay the fines and carry on doing the same thing, year after year.
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6. BUT IT WAS HONG KONG’S MOST POPULAR PAPER, right?
NO.
I know that western newspapers and new agencies report this but it was simply untrue.
Apple Daily never caught up with the market leaders, Oriental Daily and the Sing Tao papers. Its digital edition was also far behind the leaders.
Apple Daily lost US$1 million every week, month after month, year after year, but someone somewhere made sure it never ran out of cash. Wonder who that was?
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7. APPLE DAILY WAS CLOSED DOWN BY THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT
No. Again anti-China groups such as Reuters claim that, but it’s not true.
Listed companies have to write the truth in filings with the stock market. Those clearly say that the decision to close the paper was taken by the board.
Who were the big noises on the Apple Daily board? Three Americans with links to Washington and or the Pentagon, what a surprise.
Don’t be fooled. Know the truth, share the truth.