‘100% I take her out’: Trump vowed to free Hong Kong Tycoon Jimmy Lai; Beijing warns against foreign intervention

Before winning the second presidential election, Donald Trump vowed to secure the release of Hong Kong Media Tycoon Jimmy Lai in a 77 -year -old jail. Lai is now an outspoken founder of apple Daily, a strong supporter democratic newspaper, known for the rapid criticism of the Communist Party of China, which was later forced to shut down, as reported by CNN. He spent more than 1600 days in maximum security prison, most of them in solitary imprisonment. Lai is accused of working with foreign forces, a crime under Beijing’s 2020 National Security Act that can make a life and a separate sedition allegation in jail. He has not convicted all the allegations.On Thursday, a Hong Kong court was scheduled to shut down the logic, but the proceedings were delayed due to serious weather. The hearing is expected to spread for several days, paving the way for a decision that may test Trump’s capacity and the desire to fulfill the promise of the October 2024 campaign “100%” can secure the release of safe LAI.Trump has indicated that he would extend the case of Lai Lai with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, possibly connecting it to the ongoing US -Chhina business talks. LAI colleagues and supporters say the matter is informally mentioned during the recent business talks. White house officials under Trump have reiterated that securing the release of LAI remains a goal.In an interview in October, Trump told the podcast host Huga Havit that if he wins the election, he would speak to secure the release of Lai from “100%” Xi Jinping.Later, as the President, Trump vowed to bring the LAI case during the US trade talks with China. “100% I will take him out. He will be easy to get out,” he said“I think it’s a great idea to talk about Jimmy Lai,” he told Hewitt in a later radio interview in May, the authorities met for the first round of talks in Geneva. “We will put it down, and we will put it down as part of the conversation.”Officials in Beijing and Hong Kong have condemned foreign participation in the case, calling it intervention in internal affairs of China. Chinese authorities have rejected the suggestions that legal proceedings are politically motivated.“Any effort to intervene in judicial proceedings in the special administrative field of Hong Kong through political power by any country, organization, or individual, as a result of which a defendant is not able to conduct a fair test that should be obtained, is a condemnable task, a condemnable task that weakens and condemned the rule of Hong Kong’s law and condemned,” The security bureau of the city said in a statement.Lai, a British national and devotee Catholic, has been a long -time critic of the Communist Party and a prominent supporter of Hong Kong’s pro -democracy movement. His imprisonment has obtained bipartisan support for his release in Washington and public support from the UK government.“Jimmy Lai is British, not American. Given the high profile of his case, I suspect that China will be ready to make a deal,” said Sun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center Think Tank in Washington.Supporters have warned their advanced age, diabetes and long -term solitary imprisonment that their health is in danger. Jimmy Lai’s son Sebastian Lai has said that he hopes that President Trump will be able to free him. “We are incredibly grateful that the President knows about my father’s case and said he will free him,” Sabstian said. “The President has a tremendous track record in freeing prisoners from all over the world. So our family has high hope to hear this.”Paul Harris, former president of the Bar Association of Hong Kong, said Lai’s presence in Hong Kong does not stop his release. He explained that under the Mini-Constitution of Hong Kong, known as the basic law, the Chief Executive Officer has both rights and responsibility, in some cases, to forgive the prisoners convicted or reduce their sentences.Harris said, “because there is power, and it is a case for the decision of the Chief Executive as to whether he wants to use it, and one can safely assume that if the President of the Chinese wants to use it, he would use it,” Harris said, referring to the XI.