In Hong Kong, the Chinese Communist Party has won: It has forced the closure of Apple Daily, the former British colony’s biggest pro-democracy news outlet.

Management cites concern for its staff’s “safety”; Thursday’s edition was the paper’s last.

Apple’s closure marks a dark day for truth, a free press and democracy in Hong Kong. Its residents, after all, deserve unvarnished news from unrestricted sources of their choosing, yet that will be far harder to get now, if not impossible.

Meanwhile, pro-democracy journalists and executives sit behind bars on trumped-up charges of violating the new national-security law — for merely reporting the truth.

“Apple Daily showed we have a vibrant society, with freedom of expression and freedom of the press,” Emily Lau, a former pro-democracy lawmaker, said. “But after tomorrow, Apple Daily will be no more. It shows that when the Chinese government decides to act, it can be very swift and sometimes exceedingly brutal.”

The paper’s shutdown comes a week after authorities froze its accounts, raided its offices and arrested five of its top editors and executives. Its uncowed founder, Jimmy Lai, has been behind bars for months on a number of ludicrous charges, including colluding with foreign forces.

Equally threatening, Secretary for Security John Lee warns that anyone who stands with those arrested “will pay a hefty price.” It’s all part of Beijing’s decision to take firm control of the region, despite its treaty agreement to guarantee residents’ freedoms for 50 years after the United Kingdom relinquished its control in 1997.

Fact is, Beijing’s word is simply worthless. Its behavior is beyond appalling — and its intentions downright scary. Let’s hope President Joe Biden and the rest of the West understand just what they’re dealing with.