Donald Trump Seeks Jimmy Lai's Release During Xi Jinping Summit

President Donald Trump is using a high-profile diplomatic summit in Washington to advocate for the release of Jimmy Lai, a 78-year-old pro-democracy media mogul and British citizen. Lai, the founder of Apple Daily, has been imprisoned in Hong Kong since 2020 and has spent much of his incarceration in solitary confinement under a national-security law.

Trump is hosting President Xi Jinping with a personal greeting at Joint Base Andrews and a gala state dinner at the White House on Thursday. This follows a May visit to Beijing where Trump first raised Lai's case; while that effort resulted in the release of pastor Ezra Jin, Lai remained imprisoned. Trump has expressed confidence in his personal relationship with Xi, stating that securing Lai's freedom would be easy.

Despite these diplomatic efforts, the Government of China has recently signaled a hardline stance. Shortly before the Washington summit, Beijing sentenced three Hong Kong leaders to prison for organizing a vigil commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Trump continues to push for Lai's release while simultaneously seeking a trade deal ahead of the midterm elections.