Eight Days Before Xi Comes to the White House, His Wife Testifies to Congress That an American Scholar Has Been Held in China Since June — Young Kim Says Beijing "Wanted to Send a Message," Ro Khanna Calls It "Appalling," and a Bipartisan Senate Resolution Demands His Release
Sylvia Zin told the House Foreign Affairs Committee's East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee on September 17 that her husband, Myanmar scholar and UC Berkeley-affiliated researcher Min Zin, has been held by Chinese state security since June 3 on unspecified national-security allegations after arriving in Kunming for an academic workshop. The State Department has formally designated him wrongfully detained. Her testimony, alongside the son of jailed Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai, came eight days before President Trump is scheduled to host Xi Jinping at the White House on September 24. Subcommittee Chairwoman Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) said Beijing "wanted to send a message to those whose research inconvenienced it" by detaining Min Zin ahead of the summit, while voicing confidence Trump would secure his release. The same week, Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Ed Markey (D-MA) and Ted Budd (R-NC) introduced a bipartisan resolution condemning China's "repeated pattern" of wrongfully detaining American academics. On Face the Nation the following Sunday, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said he stood with Secretary of State Rubio on the case and called the detention of Americans over what they say or research "appalling" and "unacceptable." The case adds another point of friction to a US-China relationship already strained ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting.
“[In a letter to President Trump urging him to use Xi Jinping's state visit to secure the release of wrongfully detained people, including American citizen Min Zin:] Even a single mention of a detainee's name by a senior U.S. official, let alone by yourself, can significantly increase that individual's chances of clemency or improved treatment.”