Trump says he raised political prisoners' cases with Chinese President Xi

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he discussed the release of political prisoners with Chinese President Xi Jinping when the two leaders met last week.

Asked whether he raised the cases of people detained in China, including Myanmar scholar and US citizen Min Zin and Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, Trump said, “I did with President Xi. I did.”

“We talked, and I think we had some very, very important discussions. Hopefully, fruitful discussions,” Trump told reporters.

The White House had said ahead of Xi’s visit that Trump was expected to raise cases involving people it considers to have been wrongfully detained in China.

It was not immediately clear whether Trump also raised broader human rights concerns involving Tibet, China's Uyghur Muslim minority or Beijing’s “ethnic unity” law.

Trump has made securing the release of Americans detained overseas a priority, including those held in China, while largely avoiding public criticism of Beijing’s treatment of Tibetans, Uyghurs and dissidents.

Lai, the founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, has become a prominent case in international criticism of Hong Kong’s national security crackdown. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February after being convicted on two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of publishing seditious materials.

Min Zin, a Myanmar scholar and US citizen, was arrested by Chinese authorities in June. Washington designated him as wrongfully detained in August.- Ends