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CTV News
4 hours ago
- CTV News
Trump says he hopes to ‘save' Hong Kong democrat Jimmy Lai
Democracy advocate Jimmy Lai leaves the Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021. The court on Tuesday denied bail for government critic and newspaper publisher Lai who is facing charges under a sweeping new national security law. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would see what he could do to help 'save' detained Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, even though Chinese President Xi Jinping would not be 'thrilled.' 'I'm going to do everything I can to save him,' Trump told Fox News Radio in an interview. 'We'll see what we can do ... we're going to do everything we can.' Lai, 77, has pleaded not guilty to charges under Hong Kong's national security law of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, as well as to a separate charge of conspiracy to publish seditious material. He has been held in solitary confinement for more than 1,500 days since December 2020. Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington, said Lai had been 'a key orchestrator and participant in anti-China, destabilizing activities in Hong Kong.' 'We strongly oppose external forces using judicial cases as a pretext to interfere in China's internal affairs or to smear and undermine Hong Kong's rule of law,' he said. Trump has said he would raise Lai's case as part of negotiations with China over trade and tariffs. On Monday, the U.S. and China extended a tariff truce for another 90 days, staving off triple-digit duties on each other's goods. On Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said trade officials from the two sides will meet again within the next two or three months to discuss the future of the economic relationship. Reporting by Steve Holland, Nandita Bose, Susan Heavey and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Daniel Wallis.
Globe and Mail
6 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Trump says he will do everything he can to save jailed Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai
U.S. President Donald Trump says his government will 'do everything we can' to help jailed Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai ahead of closing arguments in Mr. Lai's trial under Beijing's national security law. In a Fox radio interview on Thursday, Mr. Trump said he had already raised Mr. Lai's case with the Chinese government. 'I've already brought it up and I am going to do everything I can to save him. I'm going to do everything,' the President said. 'His name has already entered the circle of things that we're talking about and we'll see what we can do.' Mr. Trump's reaffirmed pledge to press for Mr. Lai's release follows similar advocacy from the European Union, Britain and Australia. And it turns up pressure on Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has so far not spoken out on the case despite Mr. Lai's close ties to Canada. Mr. Trump did not specify how exactly he had raised Mr. Lai's name or how he planned to do so in the future. The U.S. and China are locked in trade negotiations precipitated by Mr. Trump's escalation of tariffs on Beijing earlier this year. Mr. Trump has said he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping this year if a trade agreement is reached. Immigration minister urged to grant jailed Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai citizenship Before last year's election, Mr. Trump said he 'a hundred per cent' would speak with Mr. Xi about Mr. Lai. In May, he said Mr. Lai would be 'part of the negotiation' in trade talks with China. In his comments Thursday, Mr. Trump was careful to manage expectations. 'I didn't say a hundred per cent, I'd save him. I said a hundred per cent, I'm going to be bringing it up,' he said. The President said Mr. Xi 'would not be exactly thrilled' to let Mr. Lai go. Mr. Lai owned the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, among other business interests. He was arrested in 2020 under the national security law, which the Chinese government imposed on the city amid protests that said the law was nothing more than a cover to crack down on free speech and dissent. The 77-year-old publisher has spent four years and eight months in solitary confinement at a maximum-security prison. He has diabetes and his lawyers have raised concerns that sweltering-hot conditions behind bars are grievously damaging his health. His trial is set to hear closing arguments on Friday. Mr. Lai's mother was Canadian, his sister lives in Canada and he owns restaurants, hotels and spas in the country. Among the charges he faces is 'collusion with foreign countries,' including speaking with Canadian parliamentarians. Prosecutors accuse him of orchestrating anti-government protests in 2019 and trying to get other countries to place sanctions on Chinese officials. Former justice minister Irwin Cotler, Mr. Lai's Canadian lawyer, said Mr. Trump's support for Mr. Lai shows an international political convergence on the issue that could influence China by tying the case to Beijing's trade and diplomatic interests. 'My hope is that China would realize at this point that the release of Jimmy Lai is not only the right thing to do from the point of view of justice, from the point of view of humanity,' he said in an interview, 'but that it is in their self-interest to release him.' The Editorial Board: China's torture of Jimmy Lai must end now He said Mr. Lai was being held in 'torturous' conditions that, with his medical deterioration, amounted to 'a slow-moving execution.' Mr. Cotler said the case marked 'an unusual moment' in which both Republicans and top Democrats, including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, are on the same side of an issue. 'At this point, I'd like to see our own government in Canada step up and exercise leadership,' he said. In June, Liberal MP Judy Sgro was set to present a motion to the House of Commons calling for Mr. Lai to be granted honorary Canadian citizenship. Ms. Sgro said the move, which had garnered multiparty support, was shut down by Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon. Mr. MacKinnon's office later told The Globe and Mail that it objected to putting forth such a motion 'without any debate,' even though Mr. Lai's case has previously been discussed by Parliament. Mr. Carney also did not respond to calls from Amnesty International and other human-rights groups to put Mr. Lai's case on the agenda of the G7 summit he hosted in Kananaskis, Alta., that month. The Prime Minister's Office did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer raised Mr. Lai directly with Mr. Xi in a meeting last year, EU diplomats pressed his case with their Chinese counterparts in June and Australia's government has said his arrest was part of a campaign to 'repress civil society and prosecute journalists.' With a report from Marie Woolf
CTV News
14 hours ago
- CTV News
The Taliban deny using force to divert international aid in Afghanistan
This is a locator map for Afghanistan with its capital, Kabul. (AP Photo) ISLAMABAD — The Taliban on Thursday denied using force to divert international aid in Afghanistan, responding to a U.S. watchdog report that said authorities used 'every means at their disposal, including force,' to ensure that aid goes where they want it to. The 118-page report, published a day earlier by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, said the Taliban use their regulatory power to determine which NGOs may operate, and under what conditions. The report added that the Taliban block and redirect aid to ensure it benefits Pashtun communities over minority Hazara or Tajik groups, and that they refuse to allow NGOs to operate unless they hire Taliban-affiliated businesses, NGOs, and individuals. Until recently, the U.S. was the largest donor to Afghanistan. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump stopped foreign aid to the country because, according to officials, the money was benefiting the Taliban. Last year, the United States provided 43 per cent of all international humanitarian funding to Afghanistan. The watchdog report, based on interviews with 90 current and former officials, including at the UN and from the U.S., also found that an employee at an Afghan NGO was killed for exposing the diversion of food aid to Taliban military training camps. 'The Taliban may manipulate exchange rates and rig currency auctions of imported U.S. dollars for profit,' the report stated. It added that the Taliban may 'also collude with senior UN officials to demand kickbacks from UN vendors.' A 2023 United States Institute of Peace report found that the Taliban had 'infiltrated and influenced' most UN-managed assistance programs." A spokesperson for the Economy Ministry, which oversees foreign and domestic NGOs, rejected the report's findings, claiming that humanitarian aid from international organizations was provided directly by domestic and foreign organizations through UN offices, without the intervention of Taliban institutions. 'We strive to create the necessary facilities for aid organizations to promote economic growth and reduce poverty,' said the spokesperson, Abdul Rahman Habib, adding that 'We support the transparent activities of domestic and foreign organizations and monitor their projects.' The UN mission in Afghanistan told The Associated Press in a statement that the report highlighted the 'extremely complex operating environment' for aid delivery in Afghanistan, including attempts at interference and restrictions from authorities. It also addressed the report's 'kickback' allegations. 'We take extremely seriously any allegations of malpractice and corruption, either by United Nations officials or implementing partners, and ensure these are promptly investigated,' the statement said. 'We encourage anyone in possession of any evidence of aid diversion, misuse, misconduct, fraud, and abuse to immediately report such information through the established, formal, and confidential reporting channels so that these can be investigated.' The Taliban refuse to cooperate with women A USAID official told the watchdog in 2023 that the Taliban refused to register women-led NGOs, prevented them from opening bank accounts, refused to authorize women-focused projects, demanded that women on boards of directors be replaced with men, and threatened to close organizations that failed to comply with their policies. In that same year, the report said, even two high-ranking female UN officials — the UN deputy secretary general and the executive director of UN Women — 'were told they should not be on public site visits without male chaperones, specifically, a husband, father, or brother.' The UN said last week that dozens of female Afghan staff had received death threats. The threats come against a backdrop of severe restrictions placed on women since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021. The Taliban denied such threats had been made or that it was possible to make them. The Taliban barred Afghan women from working at domestic and foreign NGOs in December 2022, extending this ban to the UN six months later, and then threatening to shut down agencies and groups still employing women. Some women have nonetheless remained in key sectors, such as health care and urgent humanitarian assistance, areas where aid agencies report a great need. Aid agencies say more than half of Afghanistan's population — roughly 23 million people — need humanitarian assistance. The crisis stems from decades of conflict, including the 20-year U.S. war with the Taliban, as well as entrenched poverty and climate shocks. The Associated Press
