Tabloid meets its logical end: China Daily editorial

The US State Department's "deep concern" over the Hong Kong government's use of the National Security Law against those hell-bent on compromising the security of the People's Republic of China is hypocrisy at its deceptive best. For the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, as an integral part of China, is committed to safeguarding the country's sovereignty and national security.

And the SAR law enforcement officers raided the Apple Daily's office because being a media outlet didn't give it the right to fuel divisions and incite violence in the city.

As for the closure of the publication, which incidentally its management announced, it has been welcomed by Hong Kong residents who want peace and prosperity in the city, which the tabloid and its foreign backers were out to turn into a lawless jungle.

What's even more surprising is that US President Joe Biden called Apple Daily's closure "a sad day for media freedom in Hong Kong and around the world" and described the tabloid as "a much-needed bastion of independent journalism in Hong Kong".

A "much-needed bastion of independent journalism" that thrived on publishing scandalous, saucy, even sham accounts of celebrities, till it started instigating violence during the illegal "Occupy Central" in 2014? And it continued to play the role of rabble-rouser during the 2019 riots, and even described the rioters armed with missiles and Molotov cocktails as "heroes" and the mayhem they committed as "heroic deeds".

It was the Apple Daily's "heroes" that executed the "heroic deed" of pouring inflammable liquid on a 57-year-old passerby in Hong Kong and set him on fire just because he disagreed with their actions. Can such acts be ignored in the name of "freedom of the press"?

Worse, on May 24, 2020, Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying published a cover story calling on Hong Kong residents to write letters to the United States president asking him to impose sanctions on China. Wasn't that a direct threat to the country and city on the pretext of media freedom?

After the Capitol riots on Jan 6, Twitter even suspended the account of then president Donald Trump because he had provoked the protesters into violence. So why should a tabloid that spreads rumors and fabricates lies be spared? Or what is defined as subversion or treason in the US is called patriotism in Hong Kong?

The truth is, Apple Daily had already lost all public trust long before it announced its closure, and its claim its bank accounts have been frozen by the authorities is just to gain the sympathy of its foreign backers. But as was destined, it has met its logical end.