<span class ="kicker">OSV News article on Smith hearing</span>'Advocates urge Trump to push for Jimmy Lai release during Xi’s state visit to the US'

This press release from Representative Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ) was published on 2026-09-16 and titled "<span class ="kicker">OSV News article on Smith hearing</span>'Advocates urge Trump to push for Jimmy Lai re".

<span class ="kicker">OSV News article on Smith hearing</span>'Advocates urge Trump to push for Jimmy Lai release during Xi’s state visit to the US'

By Kate Scanlon Published 2:43 PM September 16, 2026 WASHINGTON (OSV News) — President Donald Trump is scheduled to host Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House in late September, and advocates for Hong Kong’s prominent Catholic media tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai said Trump should push for his release from prison during the summit. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., a Catholic, who is a longtime lawmaker and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China , held a hearing Sept. 16 examining Lai’s imprisonment, with Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai, among the witnesses. Trump and other U.S. officials have pushed for Lai’s release and have cast the charges leading to Lai’s conviction on national security offenses under the city’s controversial national security law as fabricated, arguing that they were evidence that the Chinese Communist Party is seeking to silence dissent. Sebastien Lai, son of Jimmy Lai, a prominent Hong Kong Catholic, philanthropist and media mogul, poses for a portrait in London Dec. 15, 2025, next to a campaign poster featuring imagery of his father during an interview with Reuters. He gave the interview after his father was found guilty under Hong Kong's national security law of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and to publish seditious material. Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment Feb. 9, 2026. He pleaded not guilty to all charges during his trial. (OSV News photo/Toby Melville, Reuters) Smith: Trump ‘has to be absolutely unmovable’ At a May summit in China, Trump asked Xi to release political prisoners of interest to the U.S., including Jimmy Lai and Ezra Jin Mingri, founder and pastor of Zion Church. U.S. officials expressed grave religious freedom concerns in both cases. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., is pictured in an Oct. 11, 2022. Smith, a Catholic who is a longtime lawmaker and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, held a hearing Sept. 16, 2026, examining Jimmy Lai’s imprisonment, with Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai, among the witnesses. (OSV News photo/U.S House of Representatives/Handout via Reuters) As a result of that summit, Jin was released from imprisonment and reunited with his family in the U.S. shortly before Independence Day, but Lai remains in prison, where he is serving a 20-year sentence. Asked after the hearing how he would advise the White House to shift its strategy on Lai’s release, Smith told OSV News that during the upcoming meeting, Trump “has to be absolutely unmovable.” “One quick phone call, and it’s done,” Smith said of Xi’s power to authorize the release. “And that’s what President Trump has to convey.” “Don’t mince your words,” Smith continued. “That doesn’t mean you have to be rude. Just say, ‘Hey, we care about this wonderful man. Why don’t you?’ So I’m hoping President Trump will be very upfront and persistent. Don’t take no for an answer.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether Trump plans to raise the issue of Lai’s imprisonment with Xi during the state visit. ‘Oldest political prisoner in Hong Kong’ At the hearing, Sebastien Lai said, “At 78, he is the oldest political prisoner in Hong Kong, with his 20-year sentence looming over him. If he’s not free soon, he will most likely die in prison.” Jimmy Lai’s release, witnesses and Smith argued, has also taken on newfound urgency because his daughter, Claire Lai, 30, was recently diagnosed with cancer. Claire Lai , Smith said in remarks at the hearing, “was initially scheduled to join her brother today.” “Sadly, Claire was recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and has begun treatment. We are thinking of her, praying for her, and wishing her a full recovery,” he said. Sebastien Lai testified he was with his sister as she began chemotherapy in London earlier in September. “My father learned of his own daughter’s diagnosis from a maximum-security prison,” Sebastien Lai said. “He cannot hold her hand. She wants nothing more than to have him with her for this fight. We hope the Chinese authorities will consider what compassionate release would mean for her, and for a 78-year-old man who has already suffered enough.” Jimmy Lai, a prominent Hong Kong Catholic, philanthropist and media mogul, is pictured in Hong Kong May 29, 2020. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., a Catholic who is a longtime lawmaker and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, held a hearing Sept. 16, 2026, examining Lai’s imprisonment, with Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai, among the witnesses. (OSV News photo/Tyrone Siu, Reuters) Bipartisan support for Lai’s release Lai has bipartisan support from U.S. officials. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., another Catholic lawmaker who has advocated for the release of Lai and other Chinese prisoners of conscience, said in remarks on the House floor earlier in September, “this House and this Congress have always joined together in a bipartisan way for freedom — whether in Hong