Prime Minister Andy Burnham reportedly pressed US President Donald Trump to raise the issue of the detention of Hong Kong media tycoon and democracy activist Jimmy Lai when Mr Trump meets China’s President Xi Jinping.
The request was made during talks between Mr Burnham and Mr Trump lasting more than 30 minutes on Tuesday in New York, held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly’s annual meeting.
Sources told Politico that Mr Burnham asked Mr Trump to bring up the release of the British citizen during his scheduled meeting with Mr Xi on Thursday, as part of the Chinese leader’s three-day state visit. One unnamed source indicated that Mr Trump agreed that Mr Lai should be freed and allowed to spend the remainder of his life in the UK.
Mr Lai, 78, is the founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper and a vocal critic of China. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2026 after a court found him guilty of violating the Beijing-imposed national security law. He has been held in Hong Kong’s high-security prison since his arrest in 2020.
Mr Lai’s family has consistently called on the British government to intensify diplomatic efforts to secure his release, expressing concerns over his deteriorating health and the prospect of him remaining in prison for the rest of his life. They have described his six years in solitary confinement as a “death sentence”.
Mr Trump stated that he previously raised Mr Lai’s case directly with Mr Xi in May, during a state visit to Beijing. However, he later told the media upon his return that freeing Mr Lai was a “tough one for him to do,” while noting that the Chinese president would “strongly” consider the release of a pastor of an underground church.
“I did bring him up, it’s a tougher one for him, it’s a tougher one,” Mr Trump reportedly said at the time, adding: “He told me, Jimmy Lai is a tough one for him to do.”
Mr Lai’s imprisonment has attracted international attention, with human rights advocates rejecting the charges and his lengthy trial as a “sham” and politically motivated. Critics argue the case is part of efforts to tighten Beijing’s grip on the special administrative region.
On Tuesday, Mr Lai’s son, Sebastian Lai, implored Mr Burnham and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband to leverage the UN General Assembly to build international support for his father’s release. Sebastian Lai noted his father has spent more than 2,000 days in prison.
“This is an important opportunity for Britain. President Trump will meet President Xi later this week and I hope the Prime Minister will ask him directly to use that meeting to press for my father’s release,” Sebastian Lai stated.
He further emphasised the urgency of his father’s return due to his sister Claire Lai undergoing cancer treatment, describing a potential release as “an act of humanity and compassion.”
“There are many difficult issues between China and the international community, but freeing one elderly British citizen who has already endured years in prison for trying to protect people’s freedoms would be a powerful gesture of humanity and goodwill,” Sebastian Lai added.
