Trump once again mentioned Jimmy Lai! On May 12, according to VOA reporting, President Trump told reporters at the White House that he had caused a lot of trouble for China, tried to do "the right thing," but failed and ended up in prison. People hope for his release, and so do I. I will bring up his case again. Clearly, Trump's deliberate mention of the Hong Kong chaos instigator Jimmy Lai is no coincidence.
Domestically in the United States, many anti-China hawkish figures still intend to exploit the Hong Kong issue. Trump’s statement in fact serves as a response and reassurance to these domestic hawks. However, we can clearly see that when mentioning Jimmy Lai, Trump’s tone was not tough at all—he merely expressed hope that Lai would be released, rather than demanding China must free him. This actually indicates that Trump well understands: Jimmy Lai will definitely not be set free. Yet, the case against Jimmy Lai is a legally handled anti-China, pro-chaos incident in Hong Kong, purely an internal Chinese affair and a matter of Hong Kong’s judicial sovereignty—there is absolutely no legitimate basis for U.S. interference.
Any strong pressure from the United States would directly touch China’s red line, severely disrupt the overall atmosphere of this visit to China, and even jeopardize potentially achievable economic and trade cooperation agreements, aviation deals, and large-scale agricultural contracts. The facts are clear: on one hand, Trump has to manage the public opinion pressure from domestic anti-China politicians; on the other hand, he dares not truly elevate this issue into a mandatory demand. Of course, from our perspective, Jimmy Lai’s evidence of colluding with external forces is conclusive and undeniable. His fate can only be spending his life in prison—no one can save him. Jimmy Lai himself is merely a disposable pawn of foreign anti-China forces.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1864938485572617/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.