President Donald Trump said May 4 he will raise the case of imprisoned Hong Kong media tycoon and Catholic convert Jimmy Lai during his upcoming summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing later this month.
“I will be bringing it up,” Trump told conservative host Hugh Hewitt during a Salem News Channel interview when asked if he plans to discuss Lai’s case with Xi during his May 14-15 visit to China. The long-awaited summit was delayed after the outbreak of the war with Iran.
Hugh: "You're going to China. You've had this back and forth with Pope Leo; I wish Pope Leo would talk about Jimmy Lai... Will you be bringing him up again [with President Xi]?"@POTUS: "I will be bringing it up." pic.twitter.com/uJVPt5lJAl
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 4, 2026
“I brought him up,” Trump said, referring to his previous request for Lai’s release during his October 2025 meeting with Xi in South Korea. “There’s a little bitterness, I would say, with him and Jimmy Lai. Hong Kong was not as easy.”
Lai, 78, a prominent critic of Communist oppression in Beijing, founded the pro-democracy and now-defunct Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February 2026 on national security charges that the U.S. government and human rights groups largely view as politically motivated, as Zeale News previously reported. Lai has been detained since 2020.
In an interview with Zeale News hours after the sentencing, Jimmy Lai’s daughter, Claire Lai, warned that the severe punishment amounts to a death sentence for her father, who is “in failing health” and is “only sustained by his faith.” The 20-year sentence represents the maximum penalty under Beijing’s national security law.
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China’s targeting of Lai has drawn criticism from international and U.S. leaders, who have publicly called for his immediate release. Several U.S. lawmakers have also urged Trump to press the issue, framing Lai’s imprisonment as a symbol of Beijing’s crackdown on religious freedom in Hong Kong.
As Zeale News reported, Trump said in December 2025 that he had asked Xi to consider releasing Lai. Lai was given his prison sentence just two months later.