The families of two Americans who have been listed by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained in China are urging President Trump to press President Xi Jinping for their release when the two leaders meet this week.
One of the Americans is Youlin Chen, a seismologist who was detained by Chinese state security officers and accused of spying while he was visiting relatives in Beijing in 2024. Mr. Chen, who was born in China, has conducted research for U.S. government and military agencies, including on the use of seismological data to better detect and analyze possible nuclear tests in North Korea. His family and colleagues say he has not done anything illegal.
The other detainee is U Min Zin, who was arrested in June while visiting southwest China to attend a conference at the invitation of the Chinese government. Mr. Min Zin is the executive director of a policy research group that focuses on Myanmar, where he was born and became a student activist in the pro-democracy movement.
Yufang Rong, the wife of Mr. Chen, said in an emailed statement that she met officials from the State Department and the National Security Council this week and that they told her that Mr. Trump would discuss both men with Mr. Xi.
Mr. Min Zin’s wife, Sylvia Zin, told a House of Representatives foreign affairs subcommittee hearing last week that she was “deeply hopeful” that Mr. Trump would advocate for her husband’s release.
“Over a hundred days into his detention, my husband has not been granted access to his Chinese lawyers, and I have no idea where he is being held,” she said. “I’m trying to be strong for our daughter, but I’m constantly wondering if he’s OK and how to get him back home to us.”
The State Department, which earlier officially declared Mr. Chen and Mr. Min Zin wrongfully detained, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The U.S. government is obligated to treat those designated wrongfully detained abroad as hostages of a foreign government, and to work to seek their release.
It is unclear how Mr. Trump will raise the detentions with Mr. Xi. The Chinese government often shrugs off American pressure to release detainees and prisoners. But personal intervention from the U.S. president may help win a quicker release for Mr. Chen and Mr. Min Zin, said John Kamm, founder of the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that works for the release of dissidents, rights activists and political prisoners in China.
“If Trump asks Xi to do him a personal favor by releasing these two citizens, the chances are good that Xi will accommodate his request,” Mr. Kamm said.
In July, China released the pastor of a prominent underground church in China who was detained last year, less than two months after Mr. Trump raised his case with Mr. Xi during talks in Beijing.
Supporters of Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy businessman, have also called on Mr. Trump to use his leverage with the Chinese leader to win freedom for the dissident. Mr. Lai, a Chinese-born British citizen, was sentenced in February to 20 years in prison in Hong Kong on political charges, including “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces.” His imprisonment has attracted widespread condemnation in Washington and in Britain.
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