SouthernWorldwide.com – As President Trump prepares for his upcoming visit to China, the plight of Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai is drawing renewed international attention. Claire Lai, Jimmy Lai’s daughter, is closely watching the developments, hoping for her father’s case to be addressed by the U.S. president during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Jimmy Lai, a 78-year-old businessman and a devout Catholic, has been imprisoned and sentenced to 20 years by the Chinese Communist regime. He is being punished for his outspoken criticism of the Chinese government.
Over 100 U.S. lawmakers have urged President Trump to raise Lai’s case with Xi Jinping. Claire Lai herself has a direct message for the Chinese leader.
“If my father dies behind bars, he will die a martyr. And that is not something that China wants,” she stated.
The possibility of her father dying in prison is a reality Claire has had to confront. Jimmy Lai, a billionaire businessman, was sentenced in February by a court in Hong Kong, which is backed by Beijing. This sentence means he will likely spend the remainder of his life incarcerated.
He was convicted in December on charges of sedition and conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. His sentence is the longest handed down under China’s new national security law. Many experts believe this law was specifically enacted to silence Lai, a prominent critic of the Chinese government.
Claire was unable to attend her father’s sentencing. “I was heartbroken,” she shared. “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.” However, she found strength in a letter from her father, in which he expressed his trust in God’s hands, regardless of the outcome.
The court’s decision has elicited widespread condemnation from global figures concerned with religious freedom and freedom of speech. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the sentencing as “an unjust and tragic conclusion to this case.”
The United Kingdom’s government also denounced the sentence of its British citizen, labeling it a “death sentence” for the frail Lai, who suffers from diabetes and other medical conditions while being held in solitary confinement.
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Canada’s foreign affairs minister characterized the sentencing as a “politically motivated prosecution” and demanded Lai’s release on humanitarian grounds.
Despite these international reactions, Lai’s faith in Jesus Christ, and in God’s power manifested in weakness, is what sustains him, according to Claire. She, a 29-year-old attorney, has become her father’s vocal advocate, pleading for his release.
One of the key figures she is appealing to is President Donald Trump. As Trump prepares to meet Xi Jinping in China this week, Claire hopes the president will bring up her father’s situation.
“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,” Claire expressed.
In a pointed warning, Claire Lai stated on the “Lighthouse Faith” podcast, “It is absolutely in China’s interest to release my father. I mean, they are at risk of having a martyr behind bars.”
She implies that by keeping her father imprisoned until his death, China might achieve the opposite of its intended effect. Instead of silencing dissent, Beijing could inadvertently inspire more critics through Lai’s example of faith amidst severe persecution.
Christianity has historically grown through the sacrifices of martyrs. For two millennia, followers of Jesus have demonstrated a commitment to obeying God over earthly rulers, with their focus on eternity and a God who oversees history.
Throughout history, rulers who have attempted to suppress Christianity by persecuting its followers, much like China’s current approach, have learned that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against my church,” as Jesus told Peter.
Jimmy Lai’s life story is one of remarkable achievement. He fled China on a fishing boat and arrived in Hong Kong at the age of 12, when it was still a British colony. He built a successful career, becoming a media mogul and billionaire businessman. His conversion to Catholicism upon Claire’s birth marked a turning point, and he has remained steadfast in his faith.
“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 recalled.
For over 150 years, Hong Kong thrived as a British colony, developing into a prosperous and democratic hub. However, the 1997 handover to China saw its leaders promise that nothing would change, a promise that was ultimately broken.
Hong Kong became a special administrative region of China, and freedoms of speech, religious expression, and democracy were gradually eroded. Despite this, Jimmy Lai continued to voice his opposition to the communist regime through his media empire, including his newspaper Apple Daily.
In 2020, the government introduced the national security law, a vaguely worded piece of legislation used to suppress dissidents and justify arrests, charges, and convictions of individuals like Jimmy Lai and others with similar viewpoints.
Just a few months ago, in March, the owner and three employees of one of Hong Kong’s last independent bookstores were arrested. Books, including copies of Jimmy Lai’s biography, were confiscated, and the bookstore was forced to close. The arrests were reportedly for “knowingly selling seditious publications.”
Ultimately, Jimmy Lai’s fate rests in God’s hands, transcending the political machinations of secular powers. This understanding underpins Lai’s prayer life. He prays for prison guards, the sick, the imprisoned, those not in prison, and those praying for him. Despite his declining health, he also observes fasting.
“He fasts every Friday, and fasting is not easy on a man like him. 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,” Claire shared.
China should take note: what true power does a secular regime possess over a man of such conviction?
