By Steve Holland and Michael Martina
WASHINGTON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. has designated Myanmar scholar and U.S. citizen Min Zin as wrongfully detained after his arrest by Chinese authorities in June, the State Department said on Thursday, a move that makes securing his release a top U.S. priority.
The designation for Min Zin, who is accused of endangering Chinese national security, comes just weeks before U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White
House.
Rights groups have urged the U.S. to press China for the release of Min Zin, who leads a think tank focused on Myanmar, ahead of Xi's anticipated September 24 visit.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that "Min Zin is wrongfully detained in China. This follows an extensive review of the circumstances," the department said in a statement.
The department also called on China to release other Americans held by Beijing. In addition to Min Zin, Youlin Chen, a Chinese-born American seismologist from Boston, is being held by China on what the U.S. considers baseless charges. He has been declared wrongfully detained.
Chen's wife Yufang Rong, in a separate statement, said the designation signals that the detainees' "freedom is a priority for the Trump administration."
Rights groups say the number of Americans unjustly detained in the country ranges from a dozen to hundreds, including coercive exit bans. China says it handles cases in accordance with law and that there are no instances in the country of wrongful detention.
Prior to his arrest, Min Zin lived in Thailand and spent time in the U.S. and Myanmar. He had a valid Chinese visa that he had previously used to travel to China to attend academic conferences, the official said.
Min Zin traveled to Yunnan, China, on June 3 after being invited by the Chinese government to attend an academic conference in Kunming, according to the department's statement.
A senior State Department official said Min Zin was detained inside the airport and has been "subjected to repeated interrogations, isolation and detention conditions" for nearly 11 weeks.
"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," the official told Reuters on Thursday.
Yunnan authorities eventually informed the U.S. embassy that Min Zin was under criminal investigation for “endangering (China’s) national security," the official said.
Rights advocates argue that China has long conducted "hostage diplomacy," detaining foreigners, including Americans, to gain leverage in bilateral relations.
Advocates for Min Zin, including some former Trump administration officials, have petitioned Trump to raise his case with the Chinese.
"Min Zin’s case has raised grave concerns among other scholars about whether they could be subject to entrapment and detention by China," the official said.
China's foreign ministry in June confirmed the arrest of Min Zin, saying he was suspected of spying and of endangering Chinese national security.
A former student activist who participated in Myanmar's 1988 democracy movement, Min Zin studied political science at the University of California, Berkeley.
He also helped establish the Institute for Strategy and Policy, which was initially based inside Myanmar but moved overseas following the 2021 coup, when the military ousted the democratically elected government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
China has publicly backed Myanmar's new administration, which took office after a widely criticized vote that excluded the country's main opposition groups, including Suu Kyi's political party.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Michael Martina, additional reporting by Simon Lewis, Jonathan Landay and Susan Heavey; editing by Colleen Jenkins, Lincoln Feast)
