Trump Says China Giving ‘Serious Consideration’ to Free Pastor

The head pastor of the Zion church, Jin Mingri, poses for pictures in the congregation hall of the unofficial Protestant “house” church in Beijing on Aug. 28, 2018. Thomas Peter/Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump has said Chinese leader Xi Jinping may give consideration to freeing the jailed pastor, but the case of Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy publisher imprisoned in Hong Kong, is “tougher” for Xi.

“I think he’s giving very serious consideration to the pastor,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on May 15, when asked whether he and Xi discussed political prisoners in China and their potential release.

The U.S. president confirmed that he also raised Lai’s case during the visit, but that the Chinese leader described it as “a tougher one.”

“He said Jimmy Lai is a tough one for him,” Trump said. “He went through a lot.”

A vocal critic of the Chinese communist regime, Lai has been kept behind bars for more than five years in Hong Kong. He is one of the first pro-democracy advocates arrested under the draconian national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in June 2020, following months of pro-democracy protests.

In February, Hong Kong’s High Court handed down a 20-year prison term to Lai.

Lai’s supporters have hoped that the summit could help free the 78-year-old Lai, whose health has deteriorated after prolonged solitary confinement, according to his family.

The lengthy jail term also reignited global concerns about Beijing’s assault on the city’s dwindling freedoms of speech and the press, which the Chinese regime promised to keep untouched for half a century when the UK handed the city over to Beijing in 1997.

At a regular briefing in Beijing on May 15, China’s foreign ministry spokesman, Guo Jiakun, when asked about Lai’s case, said the regime has made its position clear.

“Hong Kong affairs are China’s internal affairs,” Guo told reporters shortly after Trump’s departure. “The central government of China firmly supports the Hong Kong judicial authorities in performing duties in accordance with the law.”

Trump didn’t name the pastor, but he is likely referring to Ezra Jin Mingri, the founder of China’s largest underground church, Zion Church, who has been detained since October 2025 in a sweeping suppression spanning five cities. He was accused of “illegally using information networks,” a charge that could lead to a prison sentence of up to three years.

Trump told reporters earlier this week that he would bring up Jin’s case during his trip to Beijing.

On May 13, the U.S. House and Senate passed resolutions urging the U.S. president to press Beijing to free five political prisoners. Among them were Lai; Jin; pastor Gao Quanfu and his wife, Pang Yu; and Gulshan Abbas, a retired Uyghur medical doctor.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who has been calling for Lai’s release, applauded Trump for raising the case.

“Sometimes doing the right things means having to negotiate with an absolutely despicable dictator like Xi,” he said in a statement to The Epoch Times. “Jimmy is 78, diabetic, and is suffering in solitary confinement only because he believes in freedom. We can’t give up.”

Frank Fang and Eva Fu contributed to this report.