The Sept. 16 hearing is timed just ahead of a planned Trump-Xi summit that Catholic advocates say offers another chance to press for the release of Lai, whose faith played a key role in his opposition to Beijing’s crackdown on democracy advocates.
September 12, 2026
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People gather in front of the Chinese Consulate General to protest the unjust conviction of media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai on February 14, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Apu Gomes/Getty Images)
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., will chair a congressional hearing Sept. 16 examining the imprisonment of Hong Kong media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai, timed to occur just ahead of a planned Sept. 24 Trump-Xi summit that Catholic advocates have been urging the administration to use as another chance to press for Lai’s release.
Smith, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, will lead the Sept. 16 hearing titled, “A Son and Daughter's Appeal to Xi Jinping to Release Their Dad, Jimmy Lai,” scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in the Rayburn House Office Building and livestreamed publicly. Planned witnesses include Lai's son, Sebastien Lai, who leads the #FreeJimmyLai campaign; Mark Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation and author of a Lai biography; and a senior China researcher from the Heritage Foundation.
The hearing follows a year of escalating diplomatic appeals. After a May summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he had personally raised Lai’s case, but that Xi’s response “was not positive.”
"He told me that would be a tough one," Trump said, contrasting it with China's apparent openness to releasing detained pastor Ezra Jin.
A bipartisan group of more than 100 lawmakers had urged Trump before the trip to press Xi on Lai’s behalf, warning his continued imprisonment risked becoming “an irreversible tragedy.” China ultimately released Jin in July, a move human rights advocate Nina Shea argued in the National Review showed Xi retains full power to free Lai as well, dismissing suggestions that Hong Kong's legal system ties his hands as “laughable.” Shea noted Trump and Xi were due to meet again in September in Washington, giving the President “another shot at freeing Lai.”
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., will chair a congressional hearing Sept. 16 examining the imprisonment of Hong Kong media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai, timed to occur just ahead of a planned Sept. 24 Trump-Xi summit that Catholic advocates have been urging the administration to use as another chance to press for Lai’s release.
Smith, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, will lead the Sept. 16 hearing titled, “A Son and Daughter's Appeal to Xi Jinping to Release Their Dad, Jimmy Lai,” scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in the Rayburn House Office Building and livestreamed publicly. Planned witnesses include Lai's son, Sebastien Lai, who leads the #FreeJimmyLai campaign; Mark Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation and author of a Lai biography; and a senior China researcher from the Heritage Foundation.
The hearing follows a year of escalating diplomatic appeals. After a May summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he had personally raised Lai’s case, but that Xi’s response “was not positive.”
"He told me that would be a tough one," Trump said, contrasting it with China's apparent openness to releasing detained pastor Ezra Jin.
A bipartisan group of more than 100 lawmakers had urged Trump before the trip to press Xi on Lai’s behalf, warning his continued imprisonment risked becoming “an irreversible tragedy.” China ultimately released Jin in July, a move human rights advocate Nina Shea argued in the National Review showed Xi retains full power to free Lai as well, dismissing suggestions that Hong Kong's legal system ties his hands as “laughable.” Shea noted Trump and Xi were due to meet again in September in Washington, giving the President “another shot at freeing Lai.”
