US Declares Scholar Min Zin Wrongfully Detained in China

The U.S. State Department has formally designated American citizen and Myanmar scholar Min Zin as wrongfully detained in China, a determination that makes securing his release a top diplomatic priority for Washington. The announcement, made Thursday by Assistant Secretary Dylan Johnson, comes just weeks before Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit the White House on September 24.

“Secretary Rubio has determined that U.S. citizen Min Zin is wrongfully detained in China,” Johnson said in a statement, as reported by Anadolu Agency. The designation follows nearly 11 weeks of detention since Min Zin was arrested at Kunming Airport in Yunnan Province on June 3, where he had traveled at the invitation of the Chinese government to attend an academic conference.

A Scholar’s Disappearance

Min Zin, a naturalized U.S. citizen and PhD candidate at UC Berkeley, serves as executive director and founder of the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar (ISP-Myanmar), an independent think tank that relocated overseas following the 2021 military coup in Myanmar. According to a senior State Department official, his arrest has been marked by extraordinary secrecy.

“U.S. citizen Min Zin has been detained by Chinese security services on undefined charges since June 3. For nearly 11 weeks, he has been subjected to repeated interrogations, isolation and detention conditions,” the official said, as reported by The Independent.

The official described the moment of his disappearance in stark terms: “One minute his colleagues and family were engaging with him on the phone — exchanging updates on his arrival time and plans in China — and the next minute communication was lost. For 48 hours, his loved ones did not know where he had gone, if he was alive, or who could have taken him.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian confirmed the arrest in June, alleging that Min Zin was suspected of espionage and endangering China’s national security. Yunnan authorities eventually informed the U.S. embassy that Min Zin was under criminal investigation, the State Department official said.

A Life of Activism and Scholarship

Min Zin’s path to prominence began decades ago in Myanmar, where he participated in the 1988 pro-democracy uprising as a high school student — a movement the military crushed with lethal force. After years in hiding, he crossed into Thailand in 1997 and eventually made his way to the United States, where he applied for asylum and rebuilt his life.

He studied political science at UC Berkeley, advancing to PhD candidacy in 2011, and in 2016 co-founded ISP-Myanmar. The institute operates a dedicated China Desk that publishes detailed analyses of Chinese infrastructure investments in Myanmar, and its research on governance and human rights issues has been widely respected in academic circles.

Randall G. Schriver, director of the Institute for Indo-Pacific Security, called the espionage charges against Min Zin “baseless,” noting that “Min Zin and ISP-Myanmar conduct independent academic research on governance and human rights issues in Myanmar.” Schriver urged China to “facilitate his safe return home to be reunited with his wife and daughter,” as reported by DVB.

Diplomatic Timing and Broader Pattern

The designation comes at a particularly sensitive moment in U.S.-China relations. President Trump visited Beijing in May and formally invited Xi Jinping to the White House, with the anticipated September 24 summit expected to be a major diplomatic event. Human rights organizations had urged the administration to demand Min Zin’s release before Xi’s visit.

“The safety and security of U.S. citizens globally is President Trump’s top priority, and the president has been clear that China must treat U.S. citizens with respect — and those wrongfully detained or under exit bans must be released,” the senior State Department official said.

Min Zin is the second U.S. citizen designated as wrongfully detained in China, following Youlin Chen, a Chinese-born American seismologist from Boston who has been detained since 2024. Chen, who has researched methods for detecting underground nuclear tests, was formally declared wrongfully detained by the U.S. government in March, as reported by The Guardian.

Advocacy organizations estimate that anywhere from a dozen to several hundred Americans are currently held unlawfully or restricted by exit bans in China. The New York Times has reported that about 200 American citizens are either under some form of detention or face exit bans in the country.

Academic Freedom Concerns

The case has raised alarm among scholars who study politically sensitive topics, with the State Department official noting that “Min Zin’s case has raised grave concerns among other scholars about whether they could be subject to entrapment and detention by China.”

Scholars at Risk, an international network that monitors attacks on academic freedom, expressed concern about “the detention of a scholar in apparent retaliation for his exercising the right to academic freedom,” warning that such incidents have a chilling effect on academic freedom worldwide.

Benedict Rogers, senior director at Fortify Rights, echoed these concerns: “The Chinese government has repeatedly invoked national security as a justification for restricting fundamental freedoms and silencing critical voices. The detention of Min Zin raises serious concerns not only for his rights and well-being, but also for scholars, researchers, journalists, and those engaged in public affairs.”

The Foley Foundation, which advocates for wrongfully detained Americans, noted that Min Zin’s detention “reflects a broader pattern of China using national security laws to target scholars, journalists, and researchers studying topics that the Chinese Communist Party deem politically sensitive.”

Hostage Diplomacy and Leverage

Rights advocates argue that China has long conducted what they describe as “hostage diplomacy,” detaining foreigners — including Americans — to gain leverage in bilateral relations. This practice has been documented across multiple authoritarian regimes, with experts noting that wrongful detention has become a viable tool of statecraft in an era of great power competition.

As Northeastern University analysis notes, authoritarian regimes with weaker rule-of-law protections often use the detention of foreigners as leverage because they know that democratic governments are less likely to retaliate by arbitrarily detaining their own citizens.

What’s Next

The wrongful detention designation triggers specialized diplomatic channels, including the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, and formally makes Min Zin’s release a top priority for the U.S. government. Supporters, including 32 conservative national security experts who signed a letter to President Trump and Secretary Rubio, have urged that his release be made a precondition for the upcoming Trump-Xi summit.

China has consistently denied any instances of wrongful detention, maintaining that all cases are handled in accordance with national law. Beijing has publicly backed Myanmar’s military-backed administration, and Min Zin’s research on China-Myanmar relations may have been seen as politically sensitive.

As the September 24 White House visit approaches, the question of whether Min Zin will be released before Xi’s arrival remains open. His case has become a significant irritant in U.S.-China relations, and the ISP-Myanmar organization continues to call for his “immediate and unconditional release,” emphasizing that “academic and research organizations should be able to conduct research freely and without fear of intimidation.”

For now, Min Zin’s family and colleagues await word on his condition, his access to legal counsel, and any evidence supporting the espionage allegations against him — details that have remained scarce since his arrest on June 3.