Jimmy Lai’s daughter ‘grateful’ to Trump after he raised activist’s release with Xi Jinping

WASHINGTON, DC: The daughter of jailed Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai praised President Donald Trump after he personally raised her father’s case during his high-profile meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing this week.

Claire Lai said she remained thankful to Trump and his administration for continuing to push for her father’s release, even after the president acknowledged that freeing the imprisoned publisher would be politically difficult for China.

Trump raises Jimmy Lai case during China summit

Trump said Friday he broached the release of Hong Kong activist Jimmy Lai with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The president quoted Xi as saying he’d consider it, but that Lai’s case is a “tough one.”

Despite the uncertainty surrounding her father’s fate, Claire Lai expressed appreciation that Trump continued to publicly advocate for him during delicate negotiations with Beijing.

“I just want to stress how grateful I am and we are to President Trump and his administration,” Clare Lai told “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” on Friday.

“He truly is a man of his word. This is the second time that he has brought up my father directly with President Xi. He has shown a continuous commitment to freeing my father, and we are just so endlessly grateful,” she added.

Lai, the founder of the now-defunct pro-democracy Apple Daily, is accused of anti-China activities.

Before his arrest, Lai, 78, was critical of Xi and the ruling Communist Party. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February under a national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 that has virtually silenced dissent in Hong Kong.

Trump does ‘not feel optimistic’ for Jimmy Lai after speaking with Xi Jinping

Speaking onboard Air Force One as he returned from his two-day visit to China, Trump said he believed Xi was seriously considering freeing a church pastor detained in China, but was less hopeful over the plight of Lai.

Trump said: “I did bring it up, but it’s a tougher one for him. He said Jimmy Lai is a ‘tough one’ for him.”

In an interview with Fox News broadcast later, Trump said: “I bought up Jimmy Lai. I would say the response to that was not positive.”

He added: “I did not feel optimistic.”

At the end of last year, Trump told reporters he had spoken to Xi about releasing Lai.

“I feel so badly. I spoke to President Xi about it, and I asked to consider his release,” Trump said, without specifying the date he had asked Xi. “He’s an older man and he’s not well. So I did put that request out. We’ll see what happens.”

Claire Lai also said she remained hopeful that continued pressure from the United States could eventually help secure her father’s release.

Claire Lai talks of her father’s health concerns

Claire said she was grateful to Trump for his commitment to her father’s release.

She said: “He has earned his reputation as liberating the unjustly detained and I am confident he and his administration will be the ones to free my father.”

She added it was an opportunity for Xi to do “the only just and honourable thing”.

Lai, a diabetic, has been kept in solitary confinement without air conditioning in a jail where summer temperatures rise to 44C (111F), his children have said.

“He has lost a very significant amount of weight, visibly, and he is a lot weaker than he was before,” Claire said in remarks to media earlier this year.

“His nails turn almost purple, gray and greenish before they fall off, and his teeth are getting rotten.”

Still, Trump’s decision to publicly raise Lai’s imprisonment drew praise from supporters who have urged the administration to keep human rights concerns on the agenda during negotiations with China.