Judges grill Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai over calls for Taiwan to join US alliance

Remarks prompt two High Court judges to question Apple Daily founder over his earlier claim that he opposed Taiwan’s independence

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Jimmy Lai Lai has pleaded not guilty to three conspiracy charges concerning foreign collusion and sedition. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:51pm, 7 Jan 2025Updated: 9:08pm, 7 Jan 2025

Former Hong Kong media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying came under fire from two High Court judges on Tuesday after calling on Taiwan to join a US-led strategic alliance to protect itself against mainland China and maintaining the self-ruled island could do so without having independent status.

Lai, 77, pressed on with his oral testimony in his national security trial, as he continued to offer justifications for his allegedly offensive remarks made after Beijing’s imposition of the national security law on Hong Kong in June 2020.

West Kowloon Court heard that the founder of the now defunct Apple Daily tabloid advocated for Taiwan’s participation in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, comprising the United States, Japan, Australia and India, in an episode of his online commentary programme “Live Chat with Jimmy Lai” on November 12, 2020.

Washington regards the so-called Quad as an alliance resembling the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) to counter the mainland’s growing influence in the Asia-Pacific region. Beijing has warned the initiative will severely undermine regional security.

Lai, who has pleaded not guilty to three conspiracy charges concerning foreign collusion and sedition, said Taiwan could benefit from “the hegemony of US protection”.

“Well, if they join together, that means the four countries would become one force and would become secure from outside interference or outside suppression or outside invasion,” he told the court on Tuesday.