Jiang Yongxin, a Taiwanese business executive working in Thailand, was accused of illegally engaging in telecommunications broadcasting. The Thai police sued him earlier this year and the second trial will start next week. Jiang denied that he was engaged in telecommunications broadcasting. The U.S. based Sound of Hope Radio said that the case was an example of how the Thai government has lost its judicial sovereignty because of China’s pressure.
In 2018, Jiang, who was working in Bangkok, rented a vacation home in Chiang Mai, a city in northern Thailand. He loaned the house to a Taiwanese friend from Taiwan. The Taiwanese friend, a volunteer working for the hope of the U.S. based Chinese-language radio network Sound of Hope Radio, set up a short-wave device to broadcast Chinese language programs.
In January last year, the Thai police arrested Jiang. The first trial was held in February of this year. The second trial will start next week. Jiang has denied the charge of alleged illegal telecommunication broadcasting.
Jiang said that during the police interrogation, he discovered that the Thai information that police had came from the Chinese government. His Thai lawyer also said that the Thai police were under great pressure from China. “My lawyer told me that this is only a small case. The prosecutor did not intend to sue, but because of the pressure from the Chinese embassy, they had to file the charge.”
Sound of Hope Radio is a radio station that Falun Gong practitioners in the United States set up. It uses a shortwave radio to broadcast Chinese programs to China all year round. The station issued a statement on Tuesday urging the Thai government to release Jiang Yongxin. Zeng Yong, the president of the radio station, revealed that the network has hundreds of underground launching stations in China’s neighboring countries and regions. In recent years the Chinese government has exerted increasing pressure on those countries to close those underground launch sites.
Source: Radio Free Asia, June 12, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shehui/xql-06122019152931.html