'Trump’s China test: Free prisoners, defend Taiwan', Benedict Rogers
Beijing summit offers him opportunity to secure release of prominent prisoners of conscience, reaffirm support for Taiwan
As US President Donald Trump arrives in Beijing today, there will be much on his mind as he prepares for his summit with China’s leader Xi Jinping tomorrow. The big issues around Iran, the global economy, tariffs and technology will be on the agenda.
Two issues which must, however, be a priority focus and which should neither be compromised nor neglected are human rights and the fate of Taiwan.
Within the sphere of human rights, President Trump should focus his energies on securing the release of several high-profile prisoners of conscience. If any world leader can achieve this, it is him — by the power and leverage of the office he holds and the sheer force of his personality. Even if “human rights” per se is not his natural territory, President Trump likes to present himself as a dealmaker and prides himself on getting prisoners out. In his first administration, he claimed credit for the release of detained US pastor Andrew Brunson from Turkey. He has done it before, and he must do it again.
Of course, in China, there are so many people imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs it would be unrealistic to expect President Trump to raise all cases. But he should raise those cases for which he has previously shown concern, those cases involving family members in or with connections to the United States, and those cases which are most egregious. He should raise a mix of cases representative of mainland China, Hong Kong, Tibet and the Uyghurs. And he must not raise them in a “tick box” exercise the way some leaders do — but in a meaningful way that enhances the chances of their release.
The first case that should be top of his list is that of 78 year-old Hong Kong media entrepreneur and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai, who has spent more than five years in solitary confinement and now faces 20 years in jail for peacefully expressing his belief in freedom. President Trump is on record multiple times calling for Mr Lai’s release, including promising in his presidential election campaign to secure his freedom. Mr Lai’s family have appealed to the president to deliver and US legislators have urged the president to act.
The release of Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri — the founder of Zion Church, an unregistered Protestant church network — and his fellow Christians currently in prison should also be a priority. Pastor Jin’s courageous daughter Grace Jin Drexel, who lives in Washington, DC and is married to an American citizen, has appealed to the president recently on behalf of her father.
Uyghur tech entrepreneur Ekpar Asat, whose sister Rayhan Asat is a US-based lawyer, and medical doctor Gulshan Abbas, whose sister Rushan Abbas is a US-based activist, must be high on the list for the president to raise too, along with Uyghur scholar and advocate for peaceful dialogue Ilham Tohti, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2014 and whose daughter lives in the United States.
Tara Zhang Yadi, a 22-year-old Chinese student who was arrested on a routine visit to her family in China last summer simply for promoting harmony and understanding between Han Chinese and Tibetans, must also feature in the case list. Last year she completed her studies in Paris and was due to begin further studies in London, but her involvement in a peaceful Chinese student group raising awareness about Tibet landed her in jail.
And of course, the cases President Trump raises with Xi must include mainland Chinese dissidents and not only Hong Kongers, Uyghurs and Tibetans.
He should press for the release of human rights defender Ding Jiaxi, whose wife lives in Washington, DC, and his colleague Xu Zhiyong. And he should demand freedom for lawyer, citizen journalist and Covid-19 whistle blower Zhang Zhang, and publisher Gui Minhai, a Swedish national. He should also seek the release of democracy activist Dr Wang Bingzhang, who has been held since 2002 and whose relatives are in the United States, and Pastor Wang Yi, the founder of Early Rain Church in Chengdu who has been in jail since 2019.
Those are 12 prisoners President Trump should eyeball Xi Jinping over and demand their release. Twelve has an apostolic ring to it and ought to inspire the president and his team to work hard for their freedom.
Of course, there are so many others whose cases deserve the president’s attention too. Hong Kong lawyer Chow Hang-tung who has been jailed simply for peacefully commemorating the Tiananmen massacre of 1989, along with trade unionist Lee Cheuk-yan, as well as China’s jailed underground Catholic bishops and so many Tibetan monks all need to be on the agenda.
But if President Trump can start with these 12, and secure the release of at least some of them, it will be an achievement. And it would be a win-win. The US president would have something to show for his visit, and Xi would gain good publicity. What possible danger can a 78-year-old diabetic who is dying in a Hong Kong prison cell, or a 22-year-old student jailed for promoting cultural understanding, pose to Xi’s rule? He must show some magnanimity and free them.
In addition to demanding the release of these – and other – prisoners of conscience, President Trump must be careful not to sell out Taiwan.
He does not have to do anything extraordinary. He does not have to go to war. All he has to do is hold the line and defend the status quo.
Taiwan is one of the world’s most open democracies and freest economies. If it falls to China — by war or by blockade or coercion — it will have a devastating impact on the free world and the global economy. A Taiwan under Chinese Communist Party rule would face the same fate that Hong Kong has suffered over the past few years — the rapid dismantling of a free and open society and its transformation into a brutal and repressive police state.
President Trump does not have to make big promises. He just has to avoid foolish ones.
Among the many other issues on his agenda, these are the president’s two tasks over the next two days. Seek the freedom of those unjustly jailed. And defend the status quo for Taiwan. If he can do that, he will return home with much-needed plaudits.
This article was published in UCA News on 13 May 2026.
Photo: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons