Spouse of Detained American Scholar Urges Trump to Intervene During Upcoming Summit With Xi

The wife of an American scholar currently imprisoned in China on allegations of espionage has called upon President Donald Trump to directly demand her husband’s release when Chinese President Xi Jinping visits the White House next week.

Sylvia Zin delivered her emotional appeal on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, expressing deep hope that the American leader will use the high-profile bilateral summit to advocate for her husband, U Min Zin, and secure his swift return to the United States.

Min Zin was taken into custody by Chinese authorities on June 3 after arriving in the southwestern city of Kunming to attend an academic conference. Following his apprehension, Chinese security services accused the researcher of spying and committing acts that endangered Chinese national security.

Before his imprisonment, Min Zin served as the director of the Myanmar Institute for Strategic and Policy Studies, also known as ISP-Myanmar. The research organization examines Chinese foreign policy, regional influence, and economic interests across Myanmar, a field where Min Zin has worked extensively after earlier participating as a prominent student activist in Myanmar’s 1988 pro-democracy movement.

The anticipated summit between the two heads of state is scheduled for next Wednesday, when Xi will arrive in Washington DC for an official state visit. The diplomatic encounter follows an earlier meeting in May, during which Trump traveled to Beijing to be hosted by the Chinese leader.

In the days leading up to the White House discussions, relatives of several American citizens detained in China have assembled in the nation’s capital to press lawmakers and the administration for high-level diplomatic intervention on behalf of their imprisoned loved ones.

Sylvia Zin testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific during an official hearing titled "Lives, Not Leverage: The Long Arm of China and North Korea's Repression."

During the congressional session, subcommittee chairwoman Representative Young Kim issued a strong warning to the public, stating that American citizens traveling to China risk being taken hostage by Beijing to serve as leverage in broader diplomatic bargaining. The congresswoman added that Chinese authorities sought to silence researchers whose academic findings proved inconvenient, detaining Min Zin specifically in the lead-up to the Trump-Xi summit.

Addressing lawmakers, Sylvia Zin expressed strong confidence in Trump’s capacity to negotiate the return of both her husband and Chen Youlin, an American seismologist who tracked nuclear testing and has remained incarcerated in China for the past two years.

She told the congressional panel that the president’s established track record of securing the return of wrongfully detained Americans provided her family with significant reassurance that similar efforts could successfully free Min Zin and other imprisoned citizens.

Both Min Zin and Chen Youlin received an official "wrongfully detained" designation from the US State Department last month. This critical diplomatic step transfers responsibility for their cases to the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, thereby significantly increasing the visibility of the detentions and dedicating heightened government resources toward securing their freedom.

In her testimony, Sylvia Zin highlighted the severe conditions of her husband's confinement, noting that US officials informed her that Min Zin had been subjected to interrogations lasting up to six hours each day when he was first placed in jail.

She explained that she currently resides in Thailand and has not been permitted to speak directly with her husband since his arrest. As a consequence, the family is entirely dependent on monthly consular visits conducted by US diplomats to confirm that he remains alive and to receive updates on his situation.

Describing the profound personal toll of the ordeal, she stated that she is doing her best to remain strong for their daughter while continually worrying about her husband’s health and seeking every possible path to bring him home safely.

The congressional hearing also included testimony from the son of Jimmy Lai, the imprisoned Hong Kong publishing tycoon. Trump previously raised the media mogul's case directly with Xi, later telling members of the press that the Chinese leader had characterized resolving Lai's imprisonment as a particularly difficult issue.

Family members seeking diplomatic intervention point to past precedents where direct appeals from Trump resulted in freedom for detained citizens. Following a prior formal meeting between Trump and Xi, underground Chinese Protestant church leader Jin Mingri was granted release from prison roughly two months after the American president pressed for his return.

When asked to comment on the upcoming diplomatic summit, a senior White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, affirmed that resolving the wrongful detentions of American citizens remains a top, ongoing priority for the administration.