China on Friday said it had arrested a U.S. citizen who researched Myanmar politics and accused him of espionage.
In a separate incident, on Thursday, authorities in Myanmar detained an American businessman who ran a security consultancy there, according to people who were briefed on the incident.
Min Zin, who was arrested in China, and Adam Castillo, who was detained in Myanmar, are well known among diplomats, journalists and analysts focused on Myanmar’s political situation.
Both also have been vocal commentators on China’s growing influence on Myanmar’s civil war, and they traveled periodically to Washington to share their views with policymakers and legislators.
Myanmar’s military generals have allied themselves more closely with Beijing since seizing power in 2021, and Myanmar’s top leader, a general accused of war crimes, is scheduled to travel next week to China, where he will meet with leader Xi Jinping.
There was no immediate evidence that the two arrests were coordinated or otherwise connected; it is unclear if the timing is coincidental.
Nonetheless, news of the detentions spread panic Friday among the community of people focused on Myanmar.
“We’re in a state of shock,” said an international businessman in Yangon, Myanmar, who had interacted regularly with Castillo and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisals from the Myanmar authorities.
Min Zin, who holds a master’s degree in political science from the University of California at Berkeley, led a think tank, the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar, from a base in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai.
He traveled frequently to China for research and in early June, had been in China’s southwest Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar, when he disappeared, according to friends and colleagues.
Lin Jian, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, confirmed Min Zin’s arrest at a news conference Friday, saying that Min Zin was “suspected of spying and endangering China’s national security.” China notified the U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou, Lin said.
It is unusual for China to arrest U.S. citizens on national security grounds. In 2021, John Shing-wan Leung, a U.S. citizen and Hong Kong resident, was arrested in the city of Suzhou, then later sentenced to life in prison for espionage. He was released in a 2024 U.S.-China prisoner swap.
Saw Zin Maung Soe, founder of the nonprofit CAN-Myanmar, said Min Zin’s arrest has created “a sense of insecurity” within the large Myanmar diaspora, which has swelled since the 2021 military coup.
Min Zin in recent years had deepened his research into China’s growing efforts to assert control over Myanmar’s border regions, paying particular attention to Chinese influence over the sprawling rare earth mines in the embattled state of Kachin.
His arrest raises concerns about a crackdown on this type of research, Saw Zin Maung Soe said.
“While we already know they don’t tolerate issues regarding Tibet, Uyghurs or Tiananmen Square, we now have to question whether ‘Myanmar’ has also become part of that list,” Saw Zin Maung Soe said.
Castillo was detained at an airport while returning to Myanmar after travel in the United States, according to people briefed on the incident.
Castillo, who formerly ran the American Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar, engaged often with U.S. diplomats in the country and was part of the U.S. Embassy’s Overseas Security Advisory Council, which focused on security affairs.
The State Department is “aware of reports regarding the detention of a U.S. citizen in Burma,” a spokesperson for the department said, using a previous name for Myanmar. “Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment at this time,” the spokesperson added.
In an interview with The Washington Post earlier this year, Castillo said he had met officials in Vice President JD Vance’s office to advocate for a more active U.S. policy in Myanmar. He had raised the prospect of Myanmar’s massive rare earths deposits and China’s strategic interests in the country, he said.
Cape Diamond in Yangon, Myanmar, and Rudy Lu in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.
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