Taiwan would not need independence to join international security alliance, Jimmy Lai tells national security trial

Hong Kong Free Press

Jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai told his national security trial that Taiwan would not need to declare independence to join an international alliance and gain protection from China’s military aggression as he again denied advocating the self-ruled island’s sovereignty.

Speaking from the witness stand, Lai, 77, was asked to explain an episode of the “Live Chat with Jimmy Lai” series, aired on November 12, 2020, in which he said Washington should make Taiwan a part of an international alliance consisting the Japan, Australia, India, and the US, known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad).

Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province of China to be united with the mainland by force, if necessary.

The Apple Daily founder told the court that he made the suggestion with Taiwan’s protection in mind and that it was not a move to oppose China.

Judge Esther Toh questioned how could Taiwan join Quad without sovereignty given that all its members are independent countries.

“To change the status of Taiwan to independence is impossible, but to join [the Quad] without having the independence status is possible,” Lai said in response.

“You can say that Taiwan is part of China but that’s not a position that Taiwan holds. Taiwan treats China as a treat,” he said. “If [Taiwan] cannot be independent, it doesn’t mean that they cannot get more protection.”

US President Joe Biden (centre-right), alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, speaks about the Quadrilateral Cancer Moonshot during the Quadrilateral Summit at the Archmere Academy in Wilmington, Delaware, on September 21, 2024. File photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP.

But the judge appeared unconvinced, suggesting that Lai was in fact advocating for the island’s formal independence with his comment.

Toh used the analogy of a father-and-son relationship: “For example, in your family, you have a child, the child is not independent of you, and the child says to another parent that you better protect me from my father. How does that work?”

Lai responded: “But that’s not what the child understands to be… that’s not what the child wants to be.” He added that Taiwan would be able to join Quad with the support of the US, which he described as a “hegemony.”

Lai 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 legislation. He faces life behind bars if convicted.

‘Decoupling’

The court heard in another episode of Live Chat with Jimmy Lai, dated October 22, 2020, the tycoon had expressed a desire for Donald Trump to be re-elected when he first ran against Joe Biden in the 2020 US presidential election, which took place on November 3 that year.

“Trump’s way of dealing with China is the right approach and I hope this approach will be persisting,” Lai said in that recorded programme.

He said in court that he hoped the US would continue the “decoupling” from China that began during Trump’s first term in the White House, such as by stopping the sales of chips to Chinese enterprises.

Lai also said that, had Trump been re-elected in 2020, he believed Trump would have been able to “water down” the Beijing-imposed security law, since Trump had promised to take “serious measures to address the Hong Kong problem.”

But he rejected speculating as to the “actual measures” that Trump would carry out if he was re-elected, adding that Trump lost that election to Joe Biden.

US president-elect Donald Trump. File photo: GOP, via Facebook.

The court also heard that Lai, on October 30, 2020, tweeted about a report by US media outlet NBC that alleged his Apple Daily newspaper had “commissioned” a “fake intelligence document” about Chinese business links of Biden’s son Hunter Biden.

Lai said in his tweet that he and his newspaper had “nothing to do with” the alleged fake document against Hunter Biden, but admitted that his right-hand man Mark Simon had “worked with the project.”

Simon used US$10,000 from Lai’s private funds to “reimburse for the research [Simon] requested,” according to Lai’s tweet.

Lai said in court that Simon was a “hardcore Republican” and it was “very logical” for him to have wanted Joe Biden to lose the 2020 presidential election.

But Lai said he and Apple Daily would be “implicated” because of Simon’s involvement and therefore he needed to publicly clarify the matter.

He added Simon suggested tendering his resignation as Lai’s assistant once the tycoon had made the clarification, but Simon eventually did not resign.

The trial resumes on Wednesday.

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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