China17 September, 20263 min read
Sylvia Zin Urges Trump To Raise Min Zin’s Detention With Xi Jinping In Washington
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Sylvia Zin urges Trump to press Xi to secure Min Zin's release. Min Zin detained in China on charges of endangering security after Myanmar conference.
5 outlets told this the same way.
Trump urged over Min Zin
Sylvia Zin, the wife of US scholar Min Zin, asked President Donald Trump to raise her husband’s case with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a summit next week as Xi’s Washington visit nears. Min Zin, a University of California-Berkeley scholar and executive director of the think tank ISP-Myanmar, was arrested after travelling to the Chinese city of Kunming in June for an academic workshop and was later detained by Chinese authorities on suspicion of endangering national security. Zin told a US congressional hearing that she is still unable to speak directly with her husband and relies on visits by US consular officials for updates about his condition.
“If you travel to China, Beijing may take you hostage as leverage in diplomatic negotiation.”
She said US officials told her Min Zin was interrogated for four to six hours a day when he was initially detained and is being held in a small cell where the light remains on around the clock. Zin also testified that Min Zin is one of two US citizens the State Department has designated as “wrongfully detained” in China, with the other being US seismologist Youlin Chen.
Lai family presses for release
At the same congressional hearing in Washington, Sebastien Lai appealed for the release of his father, former Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, on humanitarian grounds ahead of Xi’s expected visit to the United States. The Globe and Mail reported that a Hong Kong court sentenced Lai to 20 years in prison in February under a Beijing-imposed national security law, and that Lai’s son described him as “a 78-year-old man who has already suffered enough.” Bozeman Daily Chronicle said Lai’s daughter, Claire, did not appear at Wednesday’s hearing after being diagnosed with cancer, and her brother said she began chemotherapy in London last week.
The Times of India said Trump previously raised Lai’s case with Xi during his May visit to China and later described Xi as telling him that Lai’s case would be “a tough one”. The BBC added that the hearing was titled “Lives, Not Leverage: The Long Arm of China and North Korea's Repression,” and that Congresswoman Young Kim warned Americans about being taken hostage as leverage.
Wrongful detention becomes priority
The cases of Min Zin and Youlin Chen are considered a high diplomatic priority for the U.S. government, and the State Department’s “wrongfully detained” designation allows the cases to be handled by the US Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs.
The Times of India said the designation raises their priority within the US government and allows additional resources to be used to secure their release, while a senior White House official told the BBC that resolving wrongful detentions is “always a top priority for the President.”
The BBC reported that Sylvia Zin lives in Thailand and told the committee she has not yet been able to speak to her husband in jail, adding that “so every month, we anxiously await his consular visits because they reassure us that he is alive.”
The Times of India also said Trump secured the release of Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri after meeting with Xi in Beijing in May, and that Trump later pressed Xi over Jin Mingri’s detention before he was released two months after the request.
As Xi and Trump are expected to meet in Washington on Sept. 24, families are seeking to ensure the detentions are raised at the highest level, with Sylvia Zin asking Trump to secure the swift release of Min Zin and other wrongfully detained American citizens.