Who is Jimmy Lai, the jailed Hong Kong tycoon Trump plans to ask Xi Jinping to release?

Over 30 US lawmakers urge Trump to act as Lai’s health worsens; Beijing calls it interference in China’s internal affairs

As Donald Trump departed Washington for his high-stakes Asia tour, he’s carrying one more item on his already full diplomatic checklist: the fate of Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy media mogul.

According to a report by Bloomberg, the US president said he plans to raise Lai’s case when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week. The statement came shortly after a bipartisan group of over 30 US lawmakers, led by Florida Senator Rick Scott, urged him to personally intervene.

“I have a lot of respect for Rick Scott and a lot of them that are asking me to do that, and it’s on my list, I’m going to ask,” Trump told reporters before leaving Washington.

The letter, signed by senators and members of Congress, warned that Lai’s health is deteriorating. “Time is not on his side, he must be released immediately,” the lawmakers wrote, calling the case “a humanitarian emergency.”

A tycoon who defied Beijing

Long before his courtroom battles, Jimmy Lai’s story had already become Hong Kong legend. He fled China as a child in the 1950s, built a clothing empire from scratch, and then founded Apple Daily, a tabloid that became a fierce critic of Beijing’s growing influence in Hong Kong.

His support for the 2014 Umbrella Movement and the 2019 pro-democracy protests made him one of Beijing’s most visible adversaries in the city’s business elite.

“From Beijing’s perspective, Jimmy Lai stands out as the highest-profile and most persistent tycoon who used his fortune to support the democracy movement,” Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute, told Al Jazeera. “To them, this makes Lai a traitor who must be severely punished.”

The national security law that changed everything

In 2020, months after Beijing imposed its sweeping national security law on Hong Kong, Lai was arrested. Prosecutors accuse him of conspiring with foreign forces, including the United States, to sanction China and the Hong Kong government.

He faces two counts of colluding with foreign forces under the national security law and one charge of sedition under a colonial-era statute. If convicted, Lai could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Lai, who has already been convicted on unrelated assembly and fraud charges, denies all allegations. His ongoing trial has faced repeated delays, from bad weather to health concerns, and the verdict date remains pending.

Why the case divides the world

For many in Hong Kong, Lai’s prosecution has become a symbol of the city’s shifting identity, from a semi-autonomous financial hub to a tightly controlled territory.

Western governments, UN experts, and rights groups say Lai’s detention is politically motivated, pointing to violations of his fair-trial rights.

Eric Yan-ho Lai, a research fellow at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, told Al Jazeera that the process “has been riddled with irregularities.”

“He has been put in solitary confinement and is suffering from arbitrary detention,” he said. “Analysts believe the multiple minor convictions were designed to keep him behind bars before the main trial began.”

Lai was also denied his lawyer of choice, British barrister Timothy Owen, after Beijing blocked his participation, citing national security risks.

Hong Kong’s response: 'Handled strictly by the law'

Hong Kong authorities reject accusations of political persecution. The government insists Lai’s trial is being “handled strictly on the basis of evidence and in accordance with the law,” calling international criticism a “smear campaign.”

Officials also warned that commenting on the case could be viewed as interference with judicial independence or even “perverting the course of justice.”

Beijing, for its part, has consistently warned Washington to stay out of what it considers China’s internal affairs. Any US mention of Lai’s case, officials say, risks “violating China’s sovereignty.”

What Trump wants from Xi

Lai’s case will be one of several thorny issues when Trump meets Xi in South Korea later this week. Trump has said he hopes to use the meeting to strike a deal that would:

• Extend a pause on higher tariffs on Chinese goods,
• Push Beijing to crack down on fentanyl exports,
• Ease restrictions on rare-earth minerals, and
• Encourage Xi to pressure Russia over its war in Ukraine.

Before the summit, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met in Malaysia to lay the groundwork for the broader agenda.

A test of politics and principle

For Washington, raising Lai’s case is as much about values as leverage, a chance to demonstrate support for press freedom and human rights while testing how far Beijing is willing to bend on symbolic cases.

For Beijing, it’s a matter of control and sovereignty, showing that no amount of external pressure can influence its handling of “national security” cases.

And for Jimmy Lai, the 77-year-old man at the center of it all, it’s a test of endurance. His health is failing, the trial drags on, and his fight for freedom has become a global litmus test for Hong Kong’s vanishing autonomy.