Trump's putting his domestic chaos on the back burner to fly into the UK with a squad of American corporate heavyweights. The lineup alone tells you everything – this visit is all about the money. Britain's in financial hot water and desperately needs its "big brother" to throw them a lifeline, preferably in the form of reduced tariffs. Everything else? Secondary at best.
The world's always been about profit, and international relations are no different. Yet somehow, the "Save Jimmy Lai" crowd still thinks they can ride Trump's UK visit to pressure Prime Minister Keir Starmer into action. Seasoned observers say it’s nothing more than another desperate game.
Trump and Starmer have bigger fish to fry than Jimmy Lai – the fish called money
Trump Sees Dollar Signs in Brexit Britain
Trump won't take his "Save Lai" promises seriously, and Starmer won't turn against Beijing over this. These two have serious deals to hash out – why would they waste time on a discarded chess piece?
Britain might be struggling, but its international financial foundation is still rock solid. Plus, they've got decent footing in cutting-edge tech like AI, semiconductors, and communications. Trump sees the potential – with the right control, this benefits America big time.
With Brexit cutting Britain off from EU support, it's a golden opportunity for America to expand its economic dominance. The calculation is crystal clear from this UK delegation's lineup.
The Corporate All-Stars Making the Trip
Trump's bringing the A-team of American corporate giants. On the AI front, there's NVIDIA founder Jensen Huang and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The finance world's represented by senior executives from Bank of America, Citigroup, S&P, and BlackRock.
These major players are expected to pump £1.25 billion in fresh investment into Britain while strengthening trans-Atlantic financial ties. The US and UK will also ink deals on AI cooperation and civil nuclear energy development.
Starmer's hoping to sweet-talk Trump into easing those tariff burdens, especially fulfilling promises to cut steel and aluminum duties. Bottom line? Both sides want the same thing – making money is what matters most.
The Save Lai Camp's Pipe Dreams
Even though the chances of US-UK leaders pushing for "freeing Lai" this time are practically zero, the "Save Lai" camp is still clinging to hope, treating this as another shot at their long-shot gamble.
The anti-Hong Kong organization Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation (CFHK) recently staged a symposium in Washington, gathering their usual collection of hawkish politicians. One agenda item? Urging Trump to propose joint US-UK efforts to secure Jimmy Lai's release during his sit-down with Starmer.
These people have deep-rooted connections with Jimmy Lai. CFHK Chairman James Cunningham, the former US Consul General to Hong Kong, maintained cozy relationships with Lai before, during, and after his tenure, helping connect Lai with American political figures – he was also one of the masterminds behind Hong Kong's unrest.
Two other congressmen – Republican Chris Smith and Democrat Jim McGovern – are the driving forces behind the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act, persistently trying to destroy Hong Kong's trade offices. Both have been cheerleaders for "freeing Lai."
Meanwhile, IPAC (Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China), which keeps popping up in Lai's case, has organized "17-nation parliamentarians" (including UK, Canada, France) to write letters to their respective governments. They're urging these countries to follow Trump's earlier example and speak out for Jimmy Lai's release.
The timing is obviously coordinated with Trump's UK visit – pressuring the British government while reminding Trump of his "Save Lai" promises.
The 'Save Lai' brigade thinks Trump's UK visit is their moment – they're dreaming
A Game with No Winners
Friends in the know pointed out that their elaborate performance is just another fool’s errand. Trump's track record of unreliability speaks for itself – this UK visit is about courting his "little brother" and closing major deals. Even if he mentions Lai's case, he won't be serious about it.
As for Starmer, his Business Secretary Peter Kyle just got back from China, working hard to strengthen Sino-British trade cooperation to ease Britain's economic troubles. How could he possibly turn against Beijing over Lai's case?
In the eyes of US-UK leaders, Lai has become nothing more than political baggage. The Save Lai camp's belief that they can capitalize on this opportunity is naively laughable.
Lai Ting-yiu
What Say You?
** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **
Let’s take a closer look at Hui Ying-ting—a fugitive who’s reinvented herself stateside as a professional dissident. These days, she’s busy selling the American dream and branding Hong Kong as some kind of dystopian nightmare. Her latest act was a so-called “blockbuster” report about the supposed horrors lurking inside Hong Kong prisons—a tale cobbled together from weak hearsay more than hard facts.
But here’s where it gets interesting: while Hui is busy wagging her finger eastward, she’s conveniently silent about the real hellholes operating right in her own backyard. Hundreds of South Korean workers have had a first-hand taste of America’s much-vaunted “justice system,” enduring treatment that’s nothing short of inhumane. One survivor even published a chilling prison diary, detailing the nightmare in ways that put Hui’s claims to shame. The real question—will Hui ever have the spine to redirect her outrage to these American abuses and actually advocate for those who need it most?
A Living Nightmare: South Korean Workers Tell Their Story
This “imprisonment diary” reads like something out of a dystopian thriller. The South Korean worker describes how, after his arrest, he and his colleagues had their hands, waists, and ankles chained together, stripped of dignity and left to shiver in terror for over nine hours. And then? They were loaded into a transport truck—not just any vehicle, but one still reeking of excrement, stuffy and stifling thanks to zero air conditioning. It was a moving coffin, not a police van.
South Korean Workers Survive the ‘Hellholes’ of US Detention—Their Secret Diaries Spill the Chilling Truth
The horror didn’t stop there. They landed in a detention center for illegal immigrants—where humiliation is the house special. Everyone was forced to strip naked for inspections. There weren’t even enough beds for the crowd packed inside. The “luckiest” got a sliver of mattress on the filthy floor and a towel barely worthy of a facecloth for warmth. With the air conditioning cranked up, “freezing” was the only thing these people had plenty of.
No windows. No sunlight. Moldy mattresses. Open toilets with zero privacy—not to mention water that smells so foul you’d hesitate to bathe in it, let alone drink. As the writer puts it, “They humiliated us like prisoners of war.”
But it gets even worse. When a pregnant woman begged for medical help, staff blatantly ignored her. If someone felt sick and asked to see a medic, the answer was: “Wait till you collapse, then we’ll call emergency!” This is not just physical torment—it’s psychological warfare, complete with racist gestures and insults from American staffers. And don’t bother asking why you’re being held—“superiors say this is illegal” is all you’ll get.
A System Designed for Suffering—And Denial
Don’t think for a second this is some one-off story. What happened to the South Koreans is par for the course for anyone unlucky enough to enter these “gates of hell.”
The British press dug into three of these detention centers—finding a system that’s all about neglect and overcrowding. Medicine? Often outright denied. Overstuffed cells? Standard. Abuse by guards? You bet. One immigrant recalled being kept with dozens of others, all handcuffed, forced to bend down and eat like a dog.
Others report sleeping for days on bare, icy concrete. Forget beds or warm clothes—none appeared for more than ten days. Bathroom privacy? Nonexistent. Everything in full view of everyone, humiliation at every turn.
Of course, America’s Department of Homeland Security was quick to issue its standard “Not true!” press release. But the reality spelled out in these South Korean “imprisonment diaries” exposes US immigration lockups for what they are—textbook examples of underground lockups.
Diary Doodles: Raw and Real—Drawn Evidence of US Detention Abuse
The Hong Kong Prison Report—A Contradiction in Every Line
Meanwhile, the so-called “Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation,” where Hui is now a star, just released a so-called report “We Were Made to Suffer” claiming dire abuses inside Hong Kong’s prisons, based on interviews with a handful of her fellow “brothers” who had been jailed.
But let’s not forget: the public isn’t easily fooled anymore, especially after the highly-publicized and debunked fictions from certain activists like Ng Ngo-suet. Once you stack up Hui’s “evidence” against the detailed accounts from South Korean victims, it suddenly becomes obvious which side is actually telling the truth.
Why not drop the double standards, Hui? If “justice” is what you claim to seek, it’s time to move past slogans and selective outrage. Stop turning a blind eye to the real suffering just outside your door.
I dare you to put your investigative spotlight on America’s own “hellholes”. Justice isn’t justice if it only goes one way.
Lai Ting-yiu
