`I Want To Survive...But I Don't Want To Kowtow'

By now, most Hong Kong tycoons have made their peace with China. With the transition to Chinese rule less than three years away, they have cut huge business deals on the mainland while refraining from criticizing Beijing's aging cadres in public. Not so Jimmy Lai. Decked in his hallmark jeans and suspenders, Lai flaunts his antipathy to communism: In his successful magazine, Next, he even described Chinese Premier Li Peng as "a turtle's egg with a zero IQ."

Now the budding media mogul intends to broadcast his independent voice even louder. He's busy planning the June, 1995, launch of Apple, a newspaper with an easy-to-read format and a generous dollop of investigative and political reporting. It's a risky move, especially since Lai has already angered plenty of influential people. But the 45-year-old, who made a fortune by founding the fashion retailer Giordano Holdings Ltd., smells a moneymaking opportunity. While other Hong Kong newspapers "go into self-censorship" as 1997 approaches, he says, "they're going to create a vacuum for us to go in."