Claire Lai Urges Trump to Raise Father's Imprisonment with Xi During China Visit

President Trump heads to China this week for a meeting with President Xi Jinping, drawing close attention from Claire Lai, daughter of jailed Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai.

Jimmy Lai, a 78-year-old businessman, faithful Catholic and outspoken critic of the Chinese government, received a 20-year prison sentence in February from a Beijing-backed Hong Kong court. More than 100 U.S. lawmakers sent Trump a letter urging him to raise Lai's case with Xi.

Claire Lai has a message for Xi herself. "If my father dies behind bars, he will die a martyr. And that is not something that China wants."

A court convicted Lai in December of sedition and conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. The sentence marks the longest under China's national security law, which many experts say targets critics like Lai.

Claire could not attend the sentencing. "I was heartbroken," she said. "It was the first time that he had been sentenced where I wasn't in Hong Kong with him. ... It was a hard pill to swallow." A letter from her father strengthened her. In it, he wrote that he was in the Lord's good hands and the outcome would not change that.

The ruling drew international condemnation over concerns for religious freedom and speech. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it "an unjust and tragic conclusion to this case."

The United Kingdom labeled the sentence "a death sentence" for the frail British citizen Lai, who has diabetes and other conditions while held in solitary confinement. Canada's foreign affairs minister termed it a "politically motivated prosecution" and called for release on humanitarian grounds.

Claire, 29, an attorney and advocate for her father, credits his Christian faith for sustaining him. She hopes Trump raises his case during the visit. "We're so extremely grateful to President Trump and his administration. ... We do hope that a solution will be a bit closer to a diplomatic solution."

On the "Lighthouse Faith" podcast, Claire warned that keeping Lai in prison until death risks creating a martyr, contrary to China's aims.

Lai escaped China by fishing boat at age 12 and built a media empire and fortune in British-ruled Hong Kong. He converted to Catholicism around Claire's birth, during fears over the 1997 handover to China.

"At the time of him converting, it was a time when, during the handover, many people in Hong Kong had hearts filled with fear and doubt. I think he learned then that the only thing that could conquer it was God's love," Claire said.

Hong Kong, a British colony for more than 150 years with 7.5 million residents in under 700 square miles, became a special administrative region of China in 1997. Leaders promised no changes, but freedoms eroded. Lai used his Apple Daily newspaper to criticize the regime.

China imposed the national security law in 2020 to target dissidents. In March, police arrested the owner and three employees of a Hong Kong independent bookshop, seized books including Lai's biography, and closed the store for selling seditious publications.

Claire says her father prays for guards, the sick, prisoners and those praying for him. Despite weakness, he fasts every Friday. "He shivers when he does, and the guards put the food in front of him and ... he just sits. So, he just sits with his hunger, and he looks at the crucifix that he draws, and he tells himself that his shivering and his suffering is nothing compared to what our Savior suffered for us sinners."