Washington D.C., Fox 16, Sept. 16, 2026
More than three months after Min Zin, a U.S. scholar of Myanmar politics, was detained in China, his wife made a direct plea on Wednesday to President Donald Trump, asking him to secure her husband’s freedom when meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week.
“Knowing the president’s historic record on bringing wrongfully detained Americans home has reassured me that he will also be able to secure the swift release of Min Zin and other wrongfully detained American citizens,” Sylvia Zin said during a congressional hearing.
Min Zin, a University of California-Berkeley scholar and executive director of the think tank ISP-Myanmar, traveled to China in June for an academic workshop when he was detained by China’s state security on suspicion of endangering national security, his wife said.
He is one of two U.S. citizens designated by the State Department as wrongfully detained in China. The other is Youlin Chen, a Chinese-born American seismologist who has been detained in China for nearly two years. Their cases are now considered a high priority for the U.S. government when engaging diplomatically with Beijing.
As Xi’s expected visit to Washington draws near, families of those detained in China are coming to Washington, hoping that attention at the highest level could bring their loved ones home. The son of imprisoned former Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai also was on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, making a push for his release on humanitarian grounds.
In July, Beijing suddenly released Ezra Jin Mingri, a Chinese pastor, after Trump raised his case with Xi during a state visit to China in May.
Min Zin’s wife worries about his health
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to a question about whether an agreement could be reached for the men’s freedom. The White House has said Trump wants every American detained abroad to return home.
