Overview
- President Trump, who arrived in Beijing Wednesday, says he will raise the case of jailed Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai in talks with Xi Jinping.
- China’s foreign ministry labeled Lai a mastermind of the 2019 unrest and rejected calls to free him, saying Hong Kong authorities acted under the law.
- Press-freedom groups RSF and CPJ urged Trump to seek Lai’s immediate release on humanitarian grounds, with more than 100 U.S. lawmakers sending a letter pressing the same point.
- Lai, a 78-year-old British citizen who founded the pro-democracy Apple Daily, is serving a 20-year sentence for collusion with foreign forces and sedition after years in solitary confinement.
- The case has raised concerns for rule of law in Hong Kong, a major base for more than 1,400 U.S. companies, with RSF counting at least 28 journalists prosecuted since 2020.