U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would look into what he could do to help “save” Hong Kong pro-democracy figure and media owner Jimmy Lai, while noting that Chinese President Xi Jinping would not be pleased by such efforts.
“I’m going to do everything I can to save him,” Trump told Fox News Radio’s “The Brian Kilmeade Show” in an interview. “We’ll see what we can do … we’re going to do everything we can.”
Lai, 77, who founded the Apple Daily newspaper that was forced to close after a police raid and asset freeze in June 2021, has pleaded not guilty to two charges under Hong Kong’s national security law of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, as well as to a separate charge of conspiracy to publish seditious material.
He has been held in solitary confinement for more than 1,500 days since December 2020.
‘A Key Orchestrator’
His lawyer Robert Pang told the court that Lai experienced some episodes where he felt like “collapsing”, adding he had accepted recommendations by a visiting medical specialist but the arrangements were still being made.
“He hasn’t got the medication recommended by the specialist nor the monitor, so I am a little concerned,” said one of the judges, Esther Toh.
Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington, said Lai had been “a key orchestrator and participant in anti-China, destabilizing activities in Hong Kong.”
“We strongly oppose external forces using judicial cases as a pretext to interfere in China’s internal affairs or to smear and undermine Hong Kong’s rule of law,” he said.
Trump has said he would raise Lai’s case as part of negotiations with China over trade and tariffs.
On Monday, the U.S. and China extended a tariff truce for another 90 days, staving off triple-digit duties on each other’s goods. On Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said trade officials from the two sides will meet again within the next two or three months to discuss the future of the economic relationship.
(With inputs from Reuters)
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://stratnewsglobal.com/asia/trump-says-he-will-try-to-help-detained-hong-kong-media-tycoon-jimmy-lai/&media=https://stratnewsglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Lai.jpg&description=U.S. President Donald Trump said he would look into what he could do to help "save" Hong Kong pro-democracy figure and media owner Jimmy Lai){kind=link}