Trump's China summit fails to produce breakthrough for release of Jimmy Lai

U.S. President Donald Trump said Jimmy Lai’s case is a “tough one” for Chinese President Xi Jinping, following a meeting between the two leaders in which the subject was broached.

Trump traveled to Beijing this week to meet with Xi Jinping about numerous topics, including the potential release of multiple political prisoners.

Speaking with reporters after the meeting, Trump confirmed that the leaders spoke about Jimmy Lai, the founder and publisher of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily who was sentenced to 20 years in prison over what Chinese officials claim were national security violations.

“I donʼt want to mislead anybody,” Trump said. Xi Jinping “said Jimmy Lai is a tough one for him to do.”

“They went through a lot and right or wrong, they went through a lot, so he told me that would be a tough one,” Trump said.

“I think heʼs giving very serious consideration to the pastor,” he said, referring to Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri — a Christian pastor detained by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Despite the failure to come to an agreement on Lai’s freedom, his daughter Claire Lai told EWTN News that her family is “so grateful to President Trump and his administration for their continuous support of and…commitment to” her fatherʼs case.

“President Trump first raised [Jimmy Lai’s case] in South Korea, back at the end of 2025, and has raised it again this time,” she said. “Of course, the dream was for my father to come back on Air Force One, but I remain extremely confident that itʼs him and his administration that will secure the release of my father.”

“Yesterday was the day of the Ascension…when Jesus ascended into heaven,” Claire Lai said. “And prior to that, he had promised that he was going up so that he could send the Holy Spirit down.”

“So…in the days that follow, I hope that the Holy Spirit might move President Xiʼs heart and he might see the wisdom in releasing my aging and ailing father, who has done nothing wrong,” she said.

“He is a man who was anti-violence, pro-democracy, pro-free press, free speech, and anti-Hong Kong independence. And all he wanted was for the rights that China promised in the Sino-British Joint Declaration to be kept, for those promises to be kept,” she said.

“Everything he did at the time he did them was perfectly legal. Thatʼs why in his latest trial…99% of the things they pulled out was from prior to the National Security Law coming into force.”

“My father, he is a symbol of freedom for so many, but he is a symbol of hope. Heʼs a symbol of faith,” she said. “I think possibly even more since his imprisonment because…in the silence of his cell and in the intensity of his suffering, he really has learned just the abundance of Godʼs mercy and the abundance of his grace.”

She continued: “I know that…our good Lord and the Blessed Mother will continue to watch over him as they always have.”