US says citizen detained in China 'wrongfully,' calls for release

The US State Department on Thursday said American citizen Min Zin is "wrongfully detained" in China, intensifying calls for Beijing to release the academic.

“Secretary Rubio has determined that US citizen Min Zin is wrongfully detained in China,” Assistant Secretary Dylan Johnson said in a statement.

The designation follows a detailed review of Min’s June 3 detention in Yunnan, a province in Southwestern China, where he traveled at the invitation of the Chinese government to attend an academic conference, said Johnson.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian previously said Min is “suspected of spying and endangering China’s national security.” Min, a graduate student at UC Berkeley and founder of a Myanmar-based research group, disappeared in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar.

His arrest marks the second "wrongfully detained" designation in China, following that of Youlin Chen.

“We will continue to advocate for Mr. Zin and call for the release of all US citizens who are arbitrarily detained or exit banned in China," said Johnson.

US citizen Kai Li was convicted of espionage in China in 2016 but was among the three Americans released by Beijing in 2024 in a prisoner exchange with Washington, according to a report by The New York Times.

Another American convicted of espionage, Sandy Phan-Gillis, was expelled from the country in 2017 after having been detained for more than two years, the report added.

The NYT said about 200 American citizens were either under some form of detention or face exit bans in China, including people imprisoned on drug charges and others involved in commercial or financial disputes.