President Donald Trump has said that it is “on my list” to talk to Chinese President Xi Jinping about the release of Catholic activist Jimmy Lai.
Before boarding Air Force One on October 24, Trump was asked by an EWTN News journalist about a letter sent by Senators Jim Risch and Rick Scott asking him to secure the release of Lai. In response, Trump said, “I might do that. I have a lot of respect for Rick Scott and a lot of them that are asking me to do that. It’s on my list. I am going to ask.”
The request comes ahead of a busy week of diplomacy in Asia, where Trump will visit the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit on Sunday. He will then travel to Japan and South Korea, where he is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart, President Xi. Tensions between the two countries remain fraught amid an escalating trade war, with Trump announcing earlier this month that he will impose an additional 100 per cent tariff on Chinese goods from November 1 in response to China’s decision to expand its rare earth element export controls.
