“My wife wired money abroad without my know-ledge,” Mr Chen told the Financial Times from the prison where he is being held in solitary confinement. “That was certainly wrong. I didn't manage my family well and for that I have to take moral and political responsibility.”

Dressed in a grey uniform and watched closely by a prison guard, Mr Chen, in his first remarks to the media since his indictment in December, said his arrest and trial was prompted by Beijing's hatred of him.

Outside the visitors' room, in the middle of the prison courtyard, a large stone sign was painted with the Chinese words: “Within the law, everyone is free.” Mr Chen's case has raised questions of judicial independence and fairness in Taiwan. Mr Chen, who practised law before entering politics, said: “I respect the judicial process, but I don't believe in it. I am even disappointed in it.”