Advocates urge Trump to push for Jimmy Lai release during Xi’s state visit to the US

Advocates are calling on President Donald Trump to request the release of Jimmy Lai, a prominent Hong Kong Catholic media tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner, during an upcoming meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House in late September.

Chris Smith, a Catholic from the Diocese of Trenton and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, held a hearing on September 16 to examine Lai's imprisonment. Sebastien Lai, the son of Jimmy Lai, testified during the hearing.

U.S. officials have previously described the national security charges used to convict Lai as fabricated attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to silence dissent. During a summit in China this past May, Trump requested the release of several political prisoners, including Lai and Zion Church founder and pastor Ezra Jin Mingri. Following that meeting, Jin was released.