Pressure to free imprisoned Hong Kong newspaperman Jimmy Lai continues to mount ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s planned mid-May summit in Beijing.

Members of the U.S. Congress, including some of Trump’s closest allies, have introduced bipartisan resolutions calling on him to secure Lai’s humanitarian release during his trip to Beijing. The Senate resolution is led by Sens. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, and Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, and includes a diverse array of lawmakers from both parties. There is a similar resolution introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that already has 30 co-sponsors.

Trump himself has repeatedly called for Lai’s release. As far back as the 2024 presidential campaign he said it would be “very easy” to free Lai. He challenged Chinese President Xi Jinping to end Lai’s continuing captivity at the Busan summit last October. He’s also instructed Cabinet officials to make Lai’s release a priority in trade talks.

Lai founded Hong Kong’s popular pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper and later expanded to Taiwan. The newspaper and Lai’s Next magazine fought corruption and fought for economic and political freedom for a quarter-century. From the start, Lai knew he risked Communist Party ire. In February, three hand-picked judges sentenced him to 20 years in prison on trumped-up charges. His real crime was using his newspaper and his public........

© The Japan Times