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.
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.
From zeale.co
I hope and pray that President Trump, during his China trip, can help get poor Jimmy Lai soon released from prison! I have also been very shocked, reading about discriminatory practices among South Asians, particularly from India– South Asian Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Muslims, and even Christians have long been practicing discrimination based on the caste system– and the South Asian diaspora has brought this evil practice to the Unuted States! I didn’t know that! South Asians have been persecuting their own people, here in America– denying South Asians of the Dalit (“untouchable”) caste housing, employment, and discriminating against them in all areas of life. America should have good laws to prevent such evil practices– as well as anti-Sharia laws for protection against Muslim extremists. Not all people should be allowed the privilege of immigrating to America, in the first place.
I just submitted a comment about shocking discriminatory practices based on the ancient caste systems in South Asian nations, brought by South Asian immigrants to the U.S. I didn’t know that all of these nations– India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, and Afghanistan all have historically had ancient caste systems or a type of rigid social stratification. I also didn’t know, previously, that all religious groups in South Asian countries have participated in these caste systems– not just Hindus, but Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, even Christians. Efforts to eliminate caste systems have only partially succeeded. Well, none of these discriminatory evils should ever be tolerated in the United Srates.
President Trump is in Beijing today, meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Let’s pray for a miracle– the release of poor Jimmy Lai from prison.