Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he raised the detention of British citizen Jimmy Lai with the Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China on 23 July 2026.

Jimmy Lai's case continues to be a priority for this government. The Foreign Secretary discussed a range of bilateral and international issues with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting on 23 July, including Mr Lai's ongoing imprisonment. Direct engagement matters because it allows us to raise issues of the utmost importance to the UK and push for progress.