A high-stakes meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping next week could play a major role in the future of jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai.
Jimmy Lai’s son says the family hopes Trump can help secure the release of the 78-year-old activist, who is serving a lengthy prison sentence under Hong Kong’s controversial national security law.
Lai, founder of the now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, became one of Beijing’s most high-profile critics during Hong Kong’s 2019 anti-government protests.
Analysts say his imprisonment has become a global symbol of the decline of freedoms once promised to Hong Kong after its return from British rule in 1997.
Trump is expected to discuss trade, Taiwan, and the Iran conflict during talks with Xi in Beijing, but he has also signaled plans to raise Jimmy Lai’s case directly with Chinese leadership.
Jimmy Lai’s son warned that his father’s health is deteriorating in prison and fears he may die behind bars if international pressure fails.
Rights groups and Western officials continue calling for Lai’s immediate release, while Beijing insists the case is strictly an internal legal matter.