China unlikely to release Jimmy Lai, Trump says

Lai, 78 years old, is also a British citizen, suffers from diabetes and, according to his children, is in seriously deteriorated health after being placed in solitary confinement in a cell without air conditioning, in a place where temperatures exceed 40 degrees in summer. “He has lost a lot of weight and is much weaker than before. His nails turn almost purple, gray and green before they fall off, and his teeth are rotting,” said Claire, the activist’s daughter, according to the British newspaper The Guardian. She thanked Trump for his efforts to free her father. “He (Trump) deserves his reputation for freeing the wrongfully detained, and I am confident that he and his administration will still be able to free my father,” she said.

The Hong Kong enclave was returned by the United Kingdom to China in an agreement that provided for the “one country, two systems” policy until 2047; Until then, the Chinese government would respect Hong Kong’s political and economic autonomy. However, under Xi Jinping, China hardened its stance, imposing rulers sympathetic to Beijing and forcing the passage of local laws that restricted democratic freedoms. Street protests that began in 2019 were violently repressed, journalists were persecuted and independent press outlets were closed – including the Apple Dailyde Jimmy Lai.

Protestant pastor has a better chance of being released, according to Trump

According to the EFE agency, Trump said he had more hope about the release of another political prisoner of the Chinese regime, the Protestant pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, imprisoned for seven months and whose wife and children have an American passport and live in the United States. “Yes, I felt optimistic, on the other hand, about the second case that is now under consideration, that of the pastor,” said US President Trump about Jin. According to the Associated Press, the Zion Church, led by Jin, is one of the largest clandestine churches (that is, not registered with the government) in China, which has an aggressive policy of Sinicization of religions, in which the Chinese government, officially communist and atheist, imposes adaptation rules that churches are obliged to follow in order to operate without major restrictions in the country.