US President Donald Trump said he raised the issue of political prisoners during his recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, adding a human-rights issue to broader discussions between Washington and Beijing.
Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he discussed the release of political prisoners with Xi when the two leaders met the previous week. He did not provide detailed information about specific commitments resulting from the conversation.
The comments came after Trump was asked about cases involving people detained by Chinese authorities, including Myanmar scholar and US citizen Min Zin and Hong Kong businessman and media publisher Jimmy Lai.
Trump said the two leaders had what he described as important discussions and expressed hope that they would produce results. The White House had previously indicated that Trump was expected to raise individual detention cases during his meeting with Xi.
Lai has been one of the most prominent cases involving Hong Kong’s national security crackdown. The founder of the now-closed Apple Daily newspaper was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February after being convicted of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and publishing seditious materials.
Min Zin, a Myanmar scholar and US citizen, was arrested by Chinese authorities in June. Washington later designated him as wrongfully detained, making his case another point of concern in US-China diplomatic discussions.
Trump has made securing the release of Americans detained overseas a stated priority. His latest comments suggest that individual detention cases were included in his direct discussions with Xi as the two governments work through broader diplomatic and economic issues.
The White House has not said whether the conversation produced any agreement concerning the release of prisoners. It also did not indicate whether Trump raised broader issues involving Tibet, the Uyghur population or China’s policies toward political dissent.
The discussion took place against the backdrop of wider efforts to stabilize US-China relations. The two leaders have been negotiating on trade and other issues while both governments seek to manage areas of disagreement.
For now, Trump’s remarks confirm that political detainees were discussed at the leadership level, but the specific outcome of those conversations remains unclear. Further developments would depend on decisions by Chinese authorities and continuing diplomatic engagement between Washington and Beijing.
