Washington D.C. – Select Committee on China, Sept. 18, 2026
Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI), Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-MA), and Congresswoman Young Kim (R-CA), alongside Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Ted Budd (R-NC), John Curtis (R-UT), and Adam Schiff (D-CA), have introduced a resolution condemning the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its arbitrary or wrongful detention of American academics on baseless charges. The resolution urges the United States government to prioritize the safe return of all American citizens unlawfully or wrongfully detained in China, including Dr. Youlin Chen and American scholar Min Zin, among other measures.
“The Chinese Communist Party has unjustly detained Americans for years, holding them as hostages to bully and coerce our government. The wrongful detentions of Youlin Chen and Min Zin are especially egregious as they were lured to China under the false pretense of academic research. American professors and researchers must realize the CCP is not interested in an open exchange of ideas. They should reconsider any collaborations with China as well as any travel to the country,” said Chairman John Moolenaar.
“I am proud to join my colleagues in introducing a bipartisan and bicameral Resolution denouncing China’s use of arbitrary and unlawful arrests of U.S. citizens. Dr. Youlin Chen, a good man and respected seismologist and geophysicist who has made Boston his home, was arbitrarily arrested on fabricated ‘espionage’ charges nearly two years ago. Similarly, Min Zin, a Myanmar scholar and executive director of the Myanmar Institute for Strategic and Policy Studies, has not been heard from his family since he was detained in June for ‘espionage and endangering national security.’ Ironically, these two men were in China to engage in academic exchanges that benefit both our countries. They were doing honest and noble work and should never have been detained.
