US Citizen Arrested in China on Espionage Charge

A border checkpoint between China and Burma, (also known as Myanmar), in Ruili, west Yunnan Province, China, in Jan. 14, 2023. Noel Celis /AFP via Getty ImagesChina’s foreign ministry on June 12 confirmed that authorities have detained a U.S. citizen and accused him of conducting espionage in the country.U Min Zin has been subjected to “criminal compulsory measures” by relevant Chinese authorities on suspicion of “engaging in espionage activities and endangering China’s national security,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular briefing in Beijing.China had already notified the U.S. consulate general in Guangzhou, in southern China, Lin added.Beijing’s confirmation came less than a month after Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump met in Beijing, where they discussed issues ranging from economic cooperation to the war in Iran. As he headed back to Washington, Trump confirmed to reporters that he raised the cases of political prisoners directly with Xi.The State Department said it is aware of reports that a U.S. citizen is detained in China but declined to provide further details due to federal privacy law.“The Department of State has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement to The Epoch Times via email. “Whenever a U.S. citizen is detained, we work to provide the appropriate consular assistance.”On June 11, The New York Times, citing anonymous sources, reported that Min Zin hadn’t been seen since June 3 while in Kunming, the capital of China’s southwestern province of Yunnan, bordering Burma (also known as Myanmar).Min Zin is listed as a founding member and an executive director at the Institute for Strategic and Policy Studies, a Thailand-based think tank that studies issues including China’s foreign policy and influence in Burma.A biography recently posted by a separate research group, the Center for Social Innovation and Foreign Policy, stated that Min Zin is a PhD candidate in the political science department at the University of California—Berkeley.The Journal of Democracy described Min Zin as a student activist who participated in the massive pro-democracy protests in Burma in 1988.Burmese President Min Aung Hlaing is set to visit China from June 15 to 19 at the invitation of Xi, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement ahead of the briefing on June 12.U.S. lawmakers and families of detained Americans in China have previously called for the government to raise its travel warning for the country to the highest level over fear of arbitrary arrest on Chinese soil.The Chinese communist regime has held more Americans as prisoners than any other nation in the world, according to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, established in 2000 to monitor human rights abuses in the communist nation.More than 200 Americans in China are subject to detention, exit bans, or other forms of coercive measures, according to a 2024 estimate provided to Congress by former British journalist Peter Humphrey and human rights advocacy group Dui Hua Foundation.Eva Fu contributed to this report.