Among their other domestic political challenges, both France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Britain’s Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer have a particular personal duty to use their influence to free a 22 year-old Chinese student jailed in China.

Why should Macron and Starmer, of all world leaders, care?

This summer Zhang Yadi completed her studies at the École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris (ESPC Business School) in Paris. Her partner is French-Tibetan.

This autumn, Ms Zhang was supposed to begin her postgraduate studies in London, at my alma mater, the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London – for a Master’s in Anthropology.

So we should also call on the experienced journalist Zeinab Badawai, President of SOAS, together with SOAS’ Director and Executive Board, and the leadership of the ESPC Business School in Paris and across Europe, to speak out for Ms Zhang.

She returned home to China for a routine summer visit in between completing her studies in Paris and starting her Master’s in London, and is now in prison.

She has reportedly been detained incommunicado in her hometown of Changhsa, Hunan province, since her arrest on 31 July in the city of Shangri-La, Yunnan province. Most seriously, she has reportedly been denied legal representation – indeed, when Chinese human rights lawyer Jian Tianyong came to meet her mother last month, he was taken away.

Why was this peace-loving 22-year-old taken?

While in Paris, Ms Zhang became engaged with a group known as Chinese Youth for Tibet (CYS4T), working as an online editor for their publications.

International human rights groups have mobilised to campaign for Ms Zhang’s release. Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action calling for letters to China’s Minister of State Security demanding her release, while Human Rights Watch, Free Tibet and Tibet Watch have all issued statements. Her case has generated media attention around the world. But the task now is to keep the spotlight on her and increase the pressure on Beijing to release her.

Of course, Ms Zhang is by no means China’s only political prisoner

Tragically, she is one of thousands. We should not interpret the fact that the vast majority of people across China no longer take to the streets as any form of acquiescence or approval of Beijing’s behaviour.

It is instead an indication of the effect of indoctrination and propaganda, and the climate of fear and terror that stalks the Orwellian surveillance-filled streets of China today.

The role of China and its place in the free world?

The international community must wake up to the threats China poses to the free world. Democracies must stand up to the challenges Beijing poses to our values and freedoms. And all of us must speak out for the people of China suffering under Beijing’s brutal fist.

Sweden must do more to free Gui Minhai. Britain must step up its advocacy for Jimmy Lai. But for Zhang Yadi, a bright young student at the very start of her adult life, the leaders of the two countries which offered her education must step up to demand her freedom.

Macron and Starmer, the ball is in your court.

Benedict Rogers is a writer and human rights activist specialising in Asia. He is Senior Director at Fortify Rights, co-founder and a trustee of Hong Kong Watch, co-founder and Deputy Chair of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, and author of seven books, including “The China Nexus: Thirty Years In and Around the Chinese Communist Party’s Tyranny”.