Lai not afraid of 'sensitive' chat guests, court told
The trial of former Apple Daily boss Jimmy Lai has heard he insisted on inviting influential foreign figures to appear in his live chat series that began after the national security law took effect, unafraid of that being seen as colluding with foreign forces. In his testimony on Friday, former Apple Daily publisher Cheung Kim-hung said he'd expressed concerns about the choice of guests, at a time when the defendant was on police bail after being arrested in 2020. Cheung said he questioned whether it would be “too sensitive” to have guests such as retired US general Jack Keane on the segment “Live Chat with Jimmy Lai”, which would give the impression of "colluding with foreign forces”.  But Lai stressed that “with the [Chinese Communist Party] messing with me, I would definitely take it to the extreme, and there’s no room to back out,” Cheung said. The court also heard Lai gave specific instructions to the newspaper in its coverage of the 2020 US presidential election. “Colleagues of the international news section would report on the views expressed by both sides, but Lai ordered avoiding too much criticism of Trump,” Cheung said.  “Lai really hoped that Trump could be re-elected.”  The ex-publisher pointed to Lai's hope to have Trump take action against Beijing over the national security law, as well as the defendant saying the now-defunct newspaper “relies on the support of the Trump administration to survive”. The court was also told that senior management formed a WhatsApp group chat named “National Security Law Response Committee” in June 2020, in light of the security legislation.  Cheung said the group later moved to another messaging app, Signal, upon the suggestion of former executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung who pointed out the “disappearing message” function, believing it would be safer to discuss sensitive and confidential matters. The group discussed holding legal seminars and sharings from Lai when he was behind bars, among other topics, Cheung said.  Lai was not in the group, the court heard. The prosecution has wrapped up its questioning of Cheung, who’s among six former staff who admitted to conspiracy to commit collusion. The trial resumes on Monday.  The Apple Daily founder has denied three conspiracy charges relating to collusion with foreign forces and sedition.