Lai 'wanted a civil parliament for policy fight'

Eunice Lam

A court heard yesterday on the 85th day of the national security trial of Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying that he said the United States should take the lead in confronting Beijing.

Lai had previously said in an interview that America should have continued the policies of the Donald Trump administration toward China.

He also said in a separate interview that people should form a civil legislative council or a civil parliament, which does not require government approval to prevent the passage of harmful policies.

In an episode of Live Chat with Jimmy Lai on November 26, 2020, Lai had former Next Digital non-executive director Mark Clifford and Dan Blumenthal, the former senior country director for China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mongolia at the US Department of Defense, as guests.

Lai called on foreign countries to pressure China, urging them to stop Beijing from instilling its values and changing the international order.

"The US should take the lead in confronting China," he said.

Lai claimed that Australia had been bullied by China, and that the US and European countries should support it, with those nations needing to join hands in confronting China.

He also expressed concerns that then-presidential candidate Joe Biden's multilateralism would "water down" US policies on China and posing a threat to Taiwan.

Lai also said the relationship between the United States and Europe was worrying.

Lai said the Covid-19 pandemic would be the reason for the global community to confront China, which he claimed to be the country of origin for the coronavirus.

He said cooperation was not an option for Western countries to change China, and that they "have to deal with strength, not appeasement, not weakness."

Lai urged the Biden administration to address the situation in Hong Kong, as well as the issue of Uygurs in Xinjiang.

In another program, In Conversation with Benedict Rogers hosted by the eponymous Hong Kong Watch founder on November 27, 2020, Lai said "power comes from the people" and that civil organizations could grow stronger with more public support, thereby gaining international backing, especially from foreign governments.

When asked about the feasibility of the "yellow economic circle" (an informal support group for pro-democracy small businesses), Lai said it emerged after Beijing's suppression of Hong Kong.

He added that unless Beijing lived up to its one country, two systems promises for Hong Kong and withdrew the national security law, the circle would continue to exist and even become stronger.