By Trevor Hunnicutt
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE, May 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he thinks Chinese President Xi Jinping is seriously considering releasing a detained pastor in China but that the case of jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai "is a tough one."
"I think he's giving very serious consideration to the pastor," Trump told reporters on Air Force One en route to the United States from China, but added that Xi told him that Lai's case would be different.
"He told me that would be a tough one," Trump said.
Trump also told Fox News Channel's 'Special Report' that he had brought up Lai, but said: "I would say the response to that was not positive."
"He went through a whole thing and I said, ‘Well, we'd appreciate if you would release him. He's gotten old, and he's probably not feeling too well. It would be nice.’ And I did not feel optimistic. I have to be honest with you about that one," Trump said.
Lai was sentenced to 20 years in jail in February on two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of publishing seditious materials.
Lai's case had sparked global concerns over the national security clampdown in Hong Kong, in part reflecting his prominence as founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper. Some foreign governments and international rights groups had criticized the impact of the security law in Hong Kong.
Zion Church founder, Pastor Jin Mingri, was arrested in November along with nearly 30 other pastors and staff belonging to Zion Church, in the biggest crackdown on Chinese Christians since 2018.
The detentions came after new rules from China's top religion regulator banned unauthorized online preaching or religious training by clergy, as well as "foreign collusion."
(Reporting by Trevor Huunnicutt; additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw, Humeyra Pamuk, Susan Heavey and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; editing by Michelle Nichols )
