President Donald Trump reiterated May 11 that he plans to raise the case of imprisoned Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their upcoming summit in Beijing, renewing public pressure on Chinese leaders over one of the world’s highest-profile political prisoners.
“People would like him out. And I’d like to see him get out too. So, I’ll bring him up again,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked whether he would discuss Lai during the May 14–15 summit.
“Jimmy Lai, he caused lots of turmoil for China,” Trump said of the devout Catholic publisher. “He tried to do the right thing. He wasn’t successful, went to jail, and people would like him out.”
Lai, 78, founded the now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, which was highly critical of Beijing and became a symbol of Hong Kong’s democracy movement before authorities forced it to close under the city’s national security law.
As Zeale News reported, a Hong Kong court sentenced Lai in February to 20 years in prison on charges tied to his newspaper’s operations and support for pro-democracy activism. He has been imprisoned since 2020.
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Trump’s latest comments build on remarks he made earlier this month during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, when the President first publicly confirmed he intended to discuss Lai’s case with Xi during the Beijing summit, as Zeale News reported.
The renewed attention comes as bipartisan pressure mounts in Washington ahead of the summit. As Zeale News also reported, more than 100 lawmakers recently signed a bicameral letter urging Trump to press Xi to release Lai on humanitarian grounds.