China’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday confirmed the arrest of Min Zhen, a US citizen who heads a research center focused on Myanmar, saying he was suspected of espionage and endangering Chinese national security.“It is understood that the relevant authorities have placed Min Zhen under criminal detention in accordance with the law on suspicion of engaging in espionage and endangering China’s national security,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference.Lin said China informed the US Consulate General in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou of the arrest.Min Zhen, executive director of the Myanmar Strategy and Policy Institute, was detained after flying to Kunming, the capital of southwestern China’s Yunnan province, according to three people familiar with the matter.
They refused to reveal their names due to the sensitivity of the issue.One person said that Min Zhen was arrested at Kunming airport about two weeks ago, without providing further details.The arrest of US citizens on national security charges is rare in China and often has diplomatic implications. The arrest comes as Beijing and Washington seek to stabilize relations after years of friction, including during US President Donald Trump’s visit to China in May.
Min Zin is a former student activist who participated in Myanmar’s democracy movement in 1988. He later studied political science at the University of California, Berkeley, according to people familiar with his background.He helped found ISP-Myanmar, which initially operated inside Myanmar and then moved abroad after the 2021 military coup that ousted the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
The coup plunged Myanmar into a long civil war between the military and an array of pro-democracy armed groups and ethnic militias, a conflict that the Min Zin Research Center has closely followed.Recent ISP publications have focused on Myanmar’s political transition following military-organized elections, after junta leader Min Aung Hlaing assumed the presidency, as well as on the country’s deteriorating economy.China has publicly supported Myanmar’s current administration, which took power after a vote widely criticized by Western governments and human rights groups for excluding major opposition parties, including Suu Kyi’s political movement.
