“How could I ask for any action?” Mr Lai said. “To ask a vice-president to do something? This is beyond me.”
The Hong Kong government accuses Mr Lai of “polluting the minds” of the “impressionable” of citizens.
“You mean that they don’t have their own ideas or their own values, that they are a blank sheet of paper? I don’t agree,” Mr Lai said.
Mr Lai also denied that interactions with government officials overseas exerted any influence over Apple Daily’s political reporting.
His rebuttal followed earlier evidence suggesting the newspaper’s coverage became more radical from 2014, when Beijing’s proposed electoral changes triggered widespread protests.
“The editorial direction is the core value of Hong Kong people, etched in their hearts,” Mr Lai said.
The paper’s coverage instead reflected the social movements that were becoming more active in Hong Kong at the time, Lai explained.
“As a newspaper, we had to respond to that,” he said, adding: “If I was radical, I was radical all along.”
The trial continues.
