Jackie Chan in the thick of the action again

A few years ago he got into hot water for describing the Taiwanese elections as the 'biggest joke in the world'. Yesterday Jackie Chan was at it again, saying Chinese people needed to be controlled and too much freedom can lead to chaos 'like in Taiwan'.

Speaking at a creative industries forum at the Boao meeting, the action star said: 'I don't know whether it is better to have freedom or to have no freedom. With too much freedom ... it can get very chaotic, could end up like in Taiwan.' His comments drew applause from the audience.

His thoughts then took a bizarre turn when he said he would definitely not buy a TV set made on the mainland because he feared it might explode. If he wanted to buy a TV set, he would buy a Japanese-made one, he said.

Chan had to run a gauntlet of journalists chasing him for clarification about his comments when he left the morning panel meeting.

'I meant politics ... it's a bit better now,' he said as he dashed for cover. He did not explain whether this was a reference to the change in the island's president last year from the pro-independence-leaning Chen Shui-bian to Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang.

Chan, who admitted earlier that he found public speaking 'much scarier than performing stunts', had been responding to a question on limits placed on overseas filmmakers shooting on the mainland.