Chinese State-Owned Enterprise-Operated Convenience Stores Ban Sale of Anti-China Media Apple Daily

Convenience Store 'Bango' Operated by Hwarun Group Disappears from Shelves
Apple Daily Criticizes as "An Act to Block Information Distribution"

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Jo Young-shin] Hong Kong's representative anti-China media, Apple Daily, has disappeared from the shelves of the convenience store chain 'Vango' operated by Hong Kong.

Vango, operated by China Resources Vanguard, the largest retail company in China under China Resources Group, has about 30 stores in Hong Kong. China Resources Group is a state-owned enterprise directly supervised by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council of China.

Apple Daily announced on the 28th that Vango notified them that it would no longer sell their newspaper starting that day.

Apple Daily criticized this as "blocking the free flow of information in Hong Kong."

A spokesperson for Vanguard told the Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP) that this was a "normal business decision," but did not provide further details.

Earlier, on the 10th, the Hong Kong police's National Security Department, a unit dedicated to the Hong Kong National Security Law, arrested Apple Daily's founder Jimmy Lai (黎智英) on charges of colluding with foreign forces, raided Apple Daily's headquarters, and arrested CEO Cheung Kim-hung and CFO Chow Tat-kwong. Lai was released on bail two days later.

When asked whether other convenience stores or supermarket chains might follow Vango's decision, Apple Daily said, "We hope that will not happen."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.