Trump urges Chinese leader Xi Jinping to negotiate following Jimmy Lai conviction under Hong Kong’s national security law in case said to represent collapse of media freedom in the city.
US President Donald Trump has made a personal appeal to Chinese President Xi Jinping to release Hong Kong’s pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai from prison, over concerns for the 78-year-old billionaire’s health after his conviction.
The ruling was condemned by rights groups who said it is a severe blow to press freedom in the Chinese business hub.
Prosecutors charged Lai with conspiracies to induce foreign governments to act against Hong Kong or China and with publishing material that “excited disaffection” against Chinese authorities. Lai had denied the charge and now faces a potential life sentence after his conviction.
“I mentioned it to President Xi, I spoke to President Xi about it,” Trump told reporters on Monday, without saying when he made the appeal to Xi.
“He’s an old man, and he’s sick. So I did communicate that request out. We are going to find out, we are going to find out….” Trump said.
Jimmy Lai has spent over 1,800 days in prison. I echo President Trump’s call for Beijing to conclude this ordeal and release Mr. Lai.
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) December 15, 2025
Trump faced Xi in October on South Korean soil, where he is thought to have broached Lai’s case with the Chinese leader. Shortly after Trump made his comments on Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the verdict confirmed Beijing’s commitment to crushing dissent.
Rubio said the conviction demonstrated that China was persisting in its campaign to “muzzle any speech which supports freedom and a just society”.
Lai was the founder of the now-banned pro-democracy tabloid newspaper Apple Daily and was among the most high-profile pro-democracy figures snared by Hong Kong’s national security law.
“According to reports, Mr. Lai’s health has significantly deteriorated over the more than 1,800 days he has been incarcerated,” Rubio said in the statement. “We hope the authorities to end this ordeal as soon as possible and release Mr. Lai on humanitarian bases,” he said.
“It is time to put action behind words and my father’s release should be a precondition for closer relationship with China,” Lai’s son added, speaking at a news conference in London.
Lai’s daughter, Claire, told the Post that her father would no longer be politically active if released from jail.
“He just wants to be with his family. He wants to spend his life in service of our Lord and definitely wants to spend the remainder of his days with family,” she told The Associated Press in Washington.
“My father fundamentally is not a person who does things when he knows that something illegal has occurred,” she said.
A devout Catholic, Lai has found support in the US from a loose coalition of democracy advocates, press freedom groups and Christian activists — exactly the kind of people that make up Trump’s political base.
The forced shutdown of Lai’s Apple Daily in 2021 was a turning point for the media landscape in Hong Kong, where it had been celebrated for its acerbic coverage. News outlets have since toned down coverage of China for fear of being prosecuted in Hong Kong, and the city’s rating on a global index of press freedom has plummeted with the territory now ranking 140 out of 180 countries, RFA said.
“Even if it’s a foregone conclusion, when you heard the news, you still felt like ‘finally it’s here,’” said Edward Li, a former editor at Apple Daily living in Taiwan.
“Hong Kong not only has lost Apple Daily but also a strong voice that criticises and monitors the government…and we feel we need to take up such responsibility,” Li said.
