China arrests U.S. scholar of Myanmar on suspicion of spying – NBC10 Philadelphia

An American scholar who writes about Myanmar and Chinese foreign policy was arrested by authorities in China on suspicion of spying, China’s foreign ministry said Friday.

The scholar, Min Zin, was suspected of “engaging in espionage activities that endanger China’s national security,” said China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian.

It is uncommon for Beijing to arrest a U.S. citizen on national security allegations. The case comes just a month after U.S. President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing as the two countries aim to reset a tumultuous relationship.

A Burmese activist who knows Min Zin said he disappeared June 3 after going to Kunming, in China’s Yunnan province, for a conference. The activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of government retribution and arrest, said Min Zin had visited China multiple times before.

Min Zin was a student activist in Myanmar’s 1988 uprising, a student-led movement that the government at the time reacted to with military force. He eventually sought asylum in the U.S. He was not engaged in any direct activism work currently, said the activist.

A former student activist who participated in Myanmar’s 1988 democracy movement, Min Zin studied political science at the University of California, Berkeley.

He also helped establish the ISP, which was initially based inside Myanmar but moved overseas following the 2021 coup, when the military ousted the democratically elected government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

The coup plunged Myanmar into a protracted civil war, pitting the military against an array of pro-democracy armed groups and established ethnic armies in a conflict that is closely tracked by Min Zin’s ISP.

The think-tank’s recent publications have focused on Myanmar’s political transition, after junta chief Min Aung Hlaing took over as president following a military-engineered election, as well as the country’s failing economy.

China has publicly backed Myanmar’s new administration, which took office after a widely criticized vote that excluded the country’s main opposition groups, including Suu Kyi’s political party.