Le président américain Donald Trump Trump said Friday that China might consider releasing a detained pastor, while acknowledging that the case of Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai remained far more complicated. The remarks were made aboard Air Force One as Trump returned to the United States from China.
According to the American president, his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping Trump is taking "very serious consideration" the issue of the imprisoned pastor. However, regarding Jimmy Lai, founder of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, Trump acknowledged receiving a much less encouraging response from Chinese authorities.
“He told me it would be difficult,” Donald Trump explained regarding Xi Jinping. In an interview also given to Fox News, the American president admitted he was not optimistic about the possible release of the Hong Kong media mogul. “The reaction wasn’t positive,” he acknowledged after discussing the matter with the Chinese leader.
Jimmy Lai, a leading figure in Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, was sentenced in February to 20 years in prison. He was found guilty on two counts of conspiring with foreign forces and one count related to publishing documents deemed seditious by Chinese authorities.
The case has provoked numerous international reactions. Several Western governments and human rights organizations have for several years denounced the tightening of security imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing, particularly through the national security law that came into force after the large pro-democracy demonstrations.
Apple Daily, the newspaper founded by Jimmy Lai, had become a symbol of democratic opposition in the former British colony before its closure. For critics of Beijing, its trial illustrates the erosion of political and press freedoms in Hong Kong since China tightened its grip on the territory.
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