{"id":2521788,"date":"2025-12-16T14:45:01","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T19:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-and-uk-will-need-to-offer-a-sweet-deal-for-jimmy-lai\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T14:46:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T19:46:26","slug":"us-and-uk-will-need-to-offer-a-sweet-deal-for-jimmy-lai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-and-uk-will-need-to-offer-a-sweet-deal-for-jimmy-lai\/","title":{"rendered":"US and UK will need to offer a sweet deal for Jimmy Lai"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fus-and-uk-will-need-to-offer-a-sweet-deal-for-jimmy-lai%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2521788&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the conviction of Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media mogul Jimmy Lai on sedition charges under China&#8217;s national security law. Despite former President donald Trump&#8217;s appeal for Lai&#8217;s release, the Chinese government remains firm, emphasizing its commitment to enforcing national security laws in Hong Kong. Lai, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/axiom-space-to-launch-first-all-european-mission-from-american-soil\/\" title=\"Axiom Space to launch inaugural all-European mission from US.\">holds dual citizenship<\/a> in China and the United Kingdom, has become a focal point of geopolitical tensions, with the UK government condemning his prosecution and calling for his immediate release on human rights grounds. Negotiations for Lai&#8217;s freedom are intricate by political factors,and experts suggest that any resolution may require a high-stakes prisoner exchange involving notable detainees held by the UK,the US,or other Commonwealth countries. Lai, now 78 years old, has been imprisoned for nearly five years and draws strength from his Catholic faith during his incarceration. The situation highlights the broader conflict between Beijing&#8217;s control over Hong Kong and international efforts to support human rights and freedom of speech.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">US and UK will need to offer a sweet deal for Jimmy Lai as China stands firm on conviction<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2445989\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a> may &ldquo;feel badly&rdquo; about the conviction of Jimmy Lai, but the Chinese <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/communist-party\/\">Communist Party<\/a> appears uninterested in adhering to his request to release the Hong Kong activist.<\/p>\n<p>The Chinese Foreign Ministry, asked to comment on Trump&rsquo;s appeal on Monday for Lai&rsquo;s release, told foreign reporters on Tuesday that the central government &ldquo;supports the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/hong-kong\/\">Hong Kong<\/a> [special administrative region]  in safeguarding national security and punishing crimes that endanger national security in accordance with the law.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3919161\/british-politicians-stand-up-for-bbc-amid-trump-lawsuit\/\">British politicians stand up for BBC amid Trump lawsuit<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3919068\/australian-police-confirm-bondi-beach-shooting-terrorist-attack-islamic-state\/\">Australian police confirm Bondi Beach shooting as &lsquo;terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State&rsquo;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3919047\/suspected-islamist-christmas-market-terrorist-plot-foiled-in-germany\/\">Suspected &lsquo;Islamist&rsquo; Christmas market terrorist plot foiled in Germany<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Jonathan Franks is an American advocate who was involved in negotiations for the release of various U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >citizens held abroad<\/a>, including during the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/?p=1333230\">Russian detainment of Marine Trevor Reed<\/a> in 2019. He talked to the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> about what a path to freedom for Lai could look like.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I do think that there is a sort of a solution to be had because there&rsquo;s a solution to have be had in every case,&rdquo; Franks told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. &ldquo;The process of getting your citizen back from somebody else&rsquo;s detention is really like negotiating a drug deal. And so the question is sort of, &lsquo;What does the Chinese government want, if anything, in exchange for Mr. Lai?&#8217;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Democracy advocate Jimmy Lai, right, arrives at Hong Kong&rsquo;s Court of Final Appeal on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021. Prominent Hong Kong democracy advocate and newspaper founder Lai returned to court to contest an attempt by the government to keep him in jail while he faces charges under a sweeping new national security law. (AP Photo\/Kin Cheung)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Lai holds dual citizenship in both the People&rsquo;s Republic of <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/china\/\">China<\/a> and the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/united-kingdom\/\">United Kingdom<\/a>. The British government has been vocal in its demands for Lai to be turned over to its custody on <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/human-rights\/\">human rights<\/a> grounds.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Jimmy Lai&rsquo;s case has been a priority for this government and the prime minister, and, as the foreign Secretary has said, we condemn the politically motivated prosecution that has resulted in today&rsquo;s guilty verdict,&rdquo; said U.K. Prime Minister <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/keir-starmer\/\">Keir Starmer<\/a>. &rdquo;The UK has repeatedly called for Beijing&rsquo;s national security law to be repealed and for an end to the prosecution of all individuals charged under it, and we will continue to call for his immediate release.&ldquo;<\/p>\n<p>The elderly media mogul was found guilty of sedition on Monday, with his role as publisher for <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/communist-party\/\">anti-communist <\/a>publications such as <em>Apple Daily<\/em> as the preeminent offense.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Esther Toh, one of the three judges responsible for the over 800-page ruling issued on Monday, stated that Lai &ldquo;harboured hatred&rdquo; for the Chinese government and collaborated with foreign forces with &ldquo;constant invitation to the US to help bring down the government of the [People&rsquo;s Republic of China] with the excuse of helping the people of Hong Kong.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The case is therefore tied intimately to geopolitics and the legitimacy of the Chinese government, making it unlikely that appeals on human rights grounds will do much to sway <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/beijing\/\">Beijing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Hong Kong activists and supporters in Taiwan gather to support imprisoned Hong Kong activist publisher Jimmy Lai for the national security trial in Taipei, Taiwan, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025. (AP Photo\/Chiang Ying-ying)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Franks said, &ldquo;[What] I would start looking into is what <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/peace-may-be-a-long-way-off-in-ukraine\/\" title=\"...raine: Peace may still be a ways off\">high-profile prisoners<\/a> does the U.K. government have? Or barring that, do any of the Commonwealth countries have high-end prisoners that the Chinese government is deeply concerned with &mdash; not unlike the Huawei executive [Meng Wanzhou] that was famously held in Canada for I think it was like two years.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Franks speculated that the United States might be the country most capable of furnishing high-profile Chinese detainees that could sweeten the pot for Beijing: &ldquo;I think the secret sauce is gonna be finding out from the Brits &mdash; who they&rsquo;ve got?&#8233;Or do we [the U.S.] have somebody else?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Trump noted on Monday that he had spoken to <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/xi-jinping\/\">Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping<\/a> about Lai and &ldquo;put [the] request out&rdquo; for his release, but offered a somewhat anti-climactic short-term plan to &ldquo;see what happens.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/state-department\/\">State Department<\/a> said the guilty verdict reflected Beijing&rsquo;s efforts to &ldquo;silence those who seek to protect <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/freedom-of-speech\/\">freedom of speech<\/a> and other fundamental rights.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Neither acknowledged the possibility of a prisoner exchange.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a huge fan of giving up people in American custody to retrieve non-Americans because, you know, who knows when we might need that,&rdquo; Franks told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. &ldquo;Why are we giving them somebody that they want very badly and not getting a single one of our Americans in the process? Which is kind of a selfish way to look at the thing, but &hellip; I come to this issue as somebody that represents Americans.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Lai, who is 78 years old, has already spent nearly five years in a maximum-security prison.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Merchandise in support of Jimmy Lai is displayed before a news conference, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3917809\/china-convicts-hong-kong-democracy-leader-jimmy-lai-sedition\/\">CHINA CONVICTS HONG KONG PRO-DEMOCRACY LEADER JIMMY LAI OF SEDITION<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>He <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/catholicism\/\">converted to Catholicism<\/a> in 1997, just before Hong Kong was handed over from the U.K. to mainland China. What little communications have been made public after his detention have frequently referenced his faith as a source of strength behind bars.<\/p>\n<p>Letters from his prison cell have at times included drawings of Jesus Christ being crucified and appeals for prayers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US and UK must offer deal as China upholds Lai conviction<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3468,"featured_media":2521791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP21040062178481.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[3817,32402,48598,51254,50822],"class_list":["post-2521788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-diplomacy","tag-international-relations","tag-jimmy-lai","tag-uk-2","tag-us-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP21040062178481.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2521788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2521788"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2521788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2521793,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2521788\/revisions\/2521793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2521791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2521788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2521788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2521788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}