A convenience store chain under China Resources Holdings, a Chinese state-owned conglomerate, is no longer selling Apple Daily newspaper.
The pro-democracy media outlet said Friday that when distributors delivered today’s copies to VanGo stores this morning, workers told them the company had informed them that they will be halting sales of the newspaper.
Apple Daily said it is contacting VanGO to understand the reason for the sales suspension.
There are around 40 VanGO stores across Hong Kong island, Kowloon and the New Territories. A total of about 1,000 copies are ordinarily distributed to around 30 every day, Apple Daily said.
Coconuts Hong Kong called about half a dozen VanGO stores, all of which said they are “temporarily” not selling the paper but are unsure why. A worker at a VanGO store in San Po Kong in Kowloon said that the papers were delivered this morning, but the “company said it had to be returned.”
On Facebook, netizens expressed indifference that the chain appeared to have boycott Apple Daily.
“It doesn’t matter, I’ve stopped going to VanGO years ago anyway,” one comment read.
Another said: “[VanGO] doesn’t have much business. Let’s see how long more they can survive for before going bust.”
In an email to Coconuts HK, China Resources Vanguard said the sales suspension is a “regular business decision of company [sic].”
The VanGO chain is operated under China Resource Holdings, a state-backed conglomerate with businesses spanning consumer products, pharmaceuticals, real estate and financial services, its website states.
The Chinese enterprise, which is a Fortune Global 500 company, also owns China Resources Vanguard, which along with the VanGO convenience stores also operates dozens of supermarkets under the brands Vanguard and U Select. China Resources Vanguard is the third-largest supermarket chain in Hong Kong, behind Wellcome and ParkNShop.
Apple Daily newspaper, an outspoken supporter of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, has long been an eyesore to Beijing. Earlier this month when the outlet’s founder Jimmy Lai was arrested for violating the national security law, Hongkongers bought up copies of the paper the next day and purchased the media group’s stocks in a show of solidarity with the outlet.
