Jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai has denied advocating Taiwan independence in a comment presented as evidence during his national security trial in which he said the self-ruling island had the potential to become a “very unique country” through its relationship with the US.
Lai, 77, returned to the witness box on Monday as the trial resumed after a two-week break, entering its 114th day.
The tycoon was asked to explain comments made in an episode of the “Live Chat with Jimmy Lai” series, aired on October 1, 2020, in which he said “Taiwan will be a very unique country,” and that he hoped the “Taiwanese government would be aggressive enough to follow the policy of the US.”
Lai told the court that he was merely suggesting that Taiwan would become “stronger” through its relationship with the US, while pointing to an earlier segment in the episode in which he had said the island was not a sovereign country.
“Maybe there’s a better word I can use, maybe a place, but I define[d] earlier that Taiwan cannot be a sovereign country,” he said.
In the same episode, the court heard Lai say Taiwan could become Asia’s technology hub, and the US may redeploy some of its troops stationed in Japan to the island to protect the semiconductor chip industry there.
In court, Lai denied that he was advocating foreign countries to engage in hostile activities against China and maintained that he was merely analysing current affairs at that time.
The tycoon has pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under a Beijing-imposed security law, and a third count of conspiring to publish “seditious” materials under a colonial-era law. He faces life behind bars if convicted.
Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province of China to be united with the mainland by force, if necessary.
In another episode, featuring ex-US deputy secretary for defence Paul Wolfowitz and aired on October 15, 2020, Lai said Taiwan had become more important “strategically” than Korea in the 1950s and asked if the US would be “willing to show military might to stop the brinkmanship of China.”
He told the court that he was referring to the Korean War between 1950 and 1953, adding that the US had not been prepared for that conflict.
Lai argued that the US could prevent a war with China by “getting ready for war” and showcasing its “military supremacy.”
“That’s why the [Chinese Communist Party] don’t want to start a war because the war is only damaging without a chance of winning,” Lai said.
“If there’s a war they could only make disaster and death without winning,” he added.
‘Dictator’
The court also heard on Monday that Lai, in an opinion piece published on October 11, 2020, by his since-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, said Taiwan should “thank” Chinese leader Xi Jinping for his “war wolf” style of diplomacy.
In the article, Lai argued that Taiwan had become a priority in US international policy because Xi had vowed the “reunification” of mainland China and the island.
The tycoon denied he had sought to incite hatred against the Chinese leader by describing him as a “dictator.”
“[Xi] is not elected. He is the one who controls the whole country… what he says, goes. He is a dictator,” Lai told the court. He had made the same argument in the October 11 opinion piece.
In court, the tycoon said he had only been stating changes to US policy on Taiwan, such as selling more weapons to the island.
Lai is expected to continue explaining comments made in other Live Chat with Jimmy Lai episodes when trial resumes on Tuesday.
Lai has been detained since December 2020. Three judges – handpicked by Hong Kong’s chief executive to hear national security cases – are presiding over his trial in the place of a jury, marking a departure from the city’s common law traditions.
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