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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Amy Hawkins in Beijing

Trump’s lack of focus on human rights in China is big departure for US diplomacy

Donald Trump and Xi Jinping stand side by side in front of an arched doorway with a red wall
Since Xi Jinping took power in 2012 he has cracked down on civil society. Donald Trump called him a ‘great leader’. Photograph: White House Press Office/APAImages/Shutterstock

Asked before he departed for Beijing if he would raise with the Chinese president the case of Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy activist jailed in Hong Kong, Donald Trump said: “I’ll bring him up.”

But, the US president added: “It’s like saying to me, ‘If Comey ever went to jail, would you let him out?’ It might be a hard one for me.” Trump was referring to James B Comey, a former FBI director and a frequent target of Trump’s ire.

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