Ex-Apple Daily publisher joins mainland tour for ‘rehabilitated persons’, praises China in TV interview

Former Apple Daily publisher Cheung Kim-hung, who was convicted of foreign collusion and jailed for six years and nine months, has joined a government-organised tour to Shenzhen, praising China’s development in an interview with a state-owned broadcaster.

The one-day tour, arranged for “rehabilitated persons” by Hong Kong’s Correctional Services Department, sought to “smash prejudices and create a sense of belonging,” Phoenix TV reported on Sunday. It comes amid reports that Cheung and others who turned prosecution witness against Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai have been granted early release.

The tour group, dressed in red, included national security offenders and others convicted over the 2019 protests and unrest, according to local media. They visited the former headquarters of the East River Column guerrilla group that resisted Japanese invasion in Guangdong and Hong Kong during the Second World War, as well as the offices of Chinese tech giant Baidu.

Cheung was one of two tour group members interviewed by Phoenix, telling a reporter that he felt “very excited” to witness autonomous driving technology at work in the mainland tech hub.

“As a Chinese, I feel extremely proud to experience for myself how big and powerful our country is, and how well its technology has developed,” Cheung said in Cantonese.

A second interviewee, his face blurred and voice modified, said under an assumed name that he wanted to get a feel for historical sites he had read about online and in news articles.

Key prosecution witnesses

Cheung was the publisher of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily and the chief executive of its parent company Next Digital when he was arrested in June 2021.

Along with legal assistant Wayland Chan and activist Andy Li, Cheung was a key prosecution witness in the national security trial of Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison following his conviction on foreign collusion and sedition charges.

Lai, 78, was accused of using his tabloid to lobby foreign nations to impose sanctions, blockades, or other hostile activities upon China and Hong Kong. He was also accused of inciting hatred against the authorities with 161 op-eds he allegedly wrote and published in the now-shuttered newspaper.

Cheung was handed a sentence of six years and nine months, while Li was jailed for seven years and three months and Chan was sentenced to six years and three months.

Ming Pao reported on Monday, citing sources, that the trio were all granted early release.

Hong Kong tightened the threshold for the early release of national security prisoners following the enactment of the local national security legislation, known locally as Article 23.

An inmate may only be granted sentence remission for early release if the commissioner of correctional services is satisfied that doing so would not be contrary to the interests of national security.

In response to HKFP enquiries about Cheung’s early release, the Correctional Services Department said it did not comment on individual cases.

The Shenzhen tour, it said, was intended to assist participants “in becoming law-abiding, responsible and contributing members of society, so that joint efforts can be made to safeguard national security and social stability.”

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