Trump shoots from the hip, and people treat his words like ironclad promises—big mistake. Wait until he delivers.
The fresh proof hits close to home: heading to South Korea, reporters grill him on raising Taiwan and Jimmy Lai with President Xi. He fires back, "Yes." But post-Trump-Xi summit, he owns up—no Taiwan talk at all. On the "Lai case," details stay fuzzy, yet officials' vibes scream it got sidelined too. Trump had no choice but to square up with the Chinese side this round, so he tackles the heavy hitters and brushes off the footnotes.
Still, folks misread his playbook and prod him to act—Jimmy Lai's godfather, William McGurn, leads the charge. He drops an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal pre-summit to twist Trump's arm, and the pitch? Just a joke.
Jimmy Lai's "godfather" William McGurn wrote in The Wall Street Journal urging Trump to raise Lai's release with President Xi during their meeting – his arguments were laughable, and it all came to nothing.
Days before takeoff to South Korea, a reporter corners Trump: Will Taiwan and Jimmy Lai make the agenda? He blurts out, "I'll be talking about it" On Lai, he tosses in, it was "on my list," then hedges fast—Lai's Xi's top foe, "I'm going to ask… We'll see what happens," buying himself an escape hatch.
Post-meeting, Trump spills to reporters mid-flight home: he didn't mention Taiwan. U.S. officials whisper to Reuters that beyond trade, rare earths, and Russian oil buys, Trump had zero plans to broach extras with President Xi. By that measure, no plea for "releasing Lai" hit the table.
If that's the straight dope, the "Save Lai crew's" pre-summit circus flops hard—total zilch impact. Prime ringmaster? Jimmy Lai's baptism godfather as a Catholic, Wall Street Journal scribe William McGurn.
Summit Stakes Rise
McGurn times his strike perfectly, penning "The Trump Card That Could Free Jimmy Lai" in The Wall Street Journal right as Trump wheels up. It kicks off bold: Trump's the sole savior who can spring Jimmy Lai from jail, and this Trump-Xi huddle is prime time—top of the list, no less, since "it’s hard to think of another prominent Asian in the media world as pro-American as Mr. Lai".
McGurn spins it from Beijing's angle: If Xi Jinping craves a hassle-free U.S. trip next year, dodging Western media grillings on Jimmy Lai mid-tour, freeing Lai nips that in the bud. Trump floating the release hands China an elegant off-ramp from the bind.
I devour McGurn's piece and land here: utter bunk! A media vet like him, blind to Chinese thinking—it's laugh-out-loud naive. Post-Hong Kong National Security Law, Western nations hammer away from every flank, pressuring China without mercy. The central government steels itself to shift Hong Kong from chaos to order, shrugging off the barrage—how could they fold easy on Jimmy Lai?
The reality is, Lai ranks as a prime national security violator; zero give there, and Trump gets it cold. The other side won't twitch a muscle for any "deal," so when crunch time hits for hashing big-ticket items nose-to-nose, Lai stays off the board.
Jimmy Lai's "godfather" William McGurn wrote in The Wall Street Journal urging Trump to raise Lai's release with President Xi during their meeting – his arguments were laughable, and it all came to nothing.
Pragmatism Trumps Pleas
Bottom line, Trump's a hardcore pragmatist—chasing max payoff, he skips the moral high ground or buddy favors. So McGurn's bet that Trump saves Lai for being "pro-American"? Dead wrong. In Trump's worldview, Jimmy Lai's a dead-end card now; if playing it torpedoes the trade, it stays buried. No shock if the summit truly ghosts the Lai file.
McGurn rode high once as George W. Bush's wordsmith, shining in White House poli-circles, and he's long cozied up to Lai—one of the shadowy forces fueling Hong Kong's turmoil. But today? Zero pull on Trump's calls. With The Wall Street Journal branded enemy press by the White House, in the "Trump emperor's" gaze, he's just a dim-witted has-been blowing smoke—useless for any "Save Lai" push.
So let the circus roll on; Lai's endgame locks in. Everyone, snag your popcorn and catch the finale.
Lai Ting-yiu
What Say You?
** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **
The most consequential national security trial yet to come is also the one with the most unanswered questions — and at the centre of it is a man who almost made it out.
Monday (Feb 23) was "Renri" (人日) — the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, meant to be a day of celebration for all people. But for the 12 defendants in the "35+ Subversion Case," there was nothing to celebrate. The Court of Appeal dismissed all their appeals against both conviction and sentencing in full. Unless they push it all the way to the Court of Final Appeal, this case is done. That brings two of the three major national security cases to a close — the other being the Jimmy Lai trial. What remains is the Joshua Wong case, expected to go to trial around mid-year. Like Lai's, it reaches into the highest levels of American politics, and it will almost certainly expose a trove of behind-the-scenes dealings that will shake Hong Kong to its core. The trial is close enough that the details don't need spelling out here. But one mystery absolutely does: Wong was once Washington's darling — so why did he never make it out, while his co-conspirator Nathan Law did? An investigative report by American journalists cracked open the story.
Wong's trial is the last big national security case standing — and the most explosive one yet. How did he never make it out?
Wong's role in the Occupy Central movement and the 2019 unrest needs no introduction. In June last year, while already serving a prison term at Stanley Prison on sedition charges, he was arrested again and charged under the Hong Kong National Security Law with conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security. His second pre-trial review at the Magistrates' Court came on 21 November last year, with the next hearing set for 6 March; the full trial at the High Court is expected to begin around mid-year. This case carries weight every bit as significant as the Jimmy Lai trial — the spotlight it commands will be enormous.
The Charges Are Grave
The prosecution alleges that between July and November 2020, Wong — together with Nathan Law and others yet to be identified — conspired in Hong Kong to solicit foreign governments and institutions to impose sanctions against the Hong Kong SAR and the People's Republic of China, and to seriously obstruct the government in enacting and enforcing its laws and policies. The charges carry a potential sentence of life imprisonment. What exactly Wong and Law did, and which foreign officials were involved, the prosecution will lay out in full when the trial begins.
The public has long asked some uncomfortable questions. Did Joshua Wong ever consider fleeing before or after the National Security Law came into force at the end of June 2020? If so, why did it never happen? Did the US government try to help him get out? An investigative report by two American journalists answered part of the puzzle — and sources familiar with the matter, when contacted by Hong Kong media, broadly confirmed what it said.
Wong Begged Washington for Help
The night before the National Security Law took effect, Wong reached out through a senator's adviser to appeal directly to President Trump for help. At the same time, he sent an email to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, explicitly asking to be helped to "travel to the United States to seek political asylum, by whatever means necessary". That email tells you everything. Wong knew exactly how dangerous his situation had become — and he was betting his future on American goodwill.
Around the same time, Wong arranged to meet two officials from the US Consulate General in Hong Kong at St. John's Building, directly across the street from the consulate. He made clear he wanted to walk in and seek refuge. He was turned away on the spot. When Pompeo saw the email, he consulted with his staff and arrived at the same conclusion: letting Wong through the consulate doors was simply not an option — Washington feared Beijing would retaliate by forcing the US consulate in Hong Kong to close entirely.
State Department officials went further, exploring a covert plan to smuggle Wong out of Hong Kong by sea — routing him through Taiwan or the Philippines before eventually reaching the United States. That option was killed too, on the grounds that any such attempt would very likely be intercepted by Chinese authorities, triggering a diplomatic crisis. When the accounting was done, American interests won out — and Joshua Wong was coldly abandoned.
By that point, Nathan Law had already made it out. Seizing Pompeo's visit to London, Law met the Secretary of State privately and raised the question of rescuing Wong one more time — and was once again turned away without sympathy. In September 2020, Wong was arrested on sedition charges and imprisoned two months later. Any remaining window for escape had sealed shut.
Law Moved Fast — and Made It
Nathan Law is named as a co-conspirator in the charges against Wong — meaning that if arrested, they face the same jeopardy. But Law proved far more calculating than Wong. Shortly before the National Security Law took effect, he quietly slipped away, eventually confirming his presence in the United Kingdom on 13 July 2020. He even staged a moment of wistful sentiment, declaring: "With this parting, I do not yet know when I shall return... May glory come soon!" — words that, in the circumstances, could not have sounded more hollow.
Same charges, same case — but Law ran, and Wong didn't. One man made it out clean. The other is still paying the price.
Joshua Wong — sharp-witted all his life — took one step too many in trusting the Americans, and that delay cost him everything. The US government, in the name of "national interest," discarded him without hesitation. As his trial approaches, the reality is this: placing any further faith in American support would be the last illusion he can afford.
Lai Ting-yiu
