Chinese authorities said they arrested a Northern California academic earlier this month, charging him with espionage and endangering national security.
U Min Zin was detained on June 3 at Kunming Changshui International Airport in southwest China's Yunnan province, according to a New York Times report. Details about the arrest are still unknown. Min Zin was traveling for academic reasons.
Earlier this week, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a news conference that the U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou was notified of Min Zin's arrest, the Times said.
The arrest occurred after President Trump met with Xi Jinping in China to stabilize US-China relations and manage disputes on Taiwan, Iran and regional security.
“We are aware of reports of a U.S. citizen detained in China,” a State Department official said. he told SFGATE. “Whenever a U.S. citizen is detained, we work to provide appropriate consular assistance. However, under federal privacy law, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
Min Zin is a doctoral student at UC Berkeley, where he also earned a master's degree in political science and government, according to his LinkedIn page. His studies focus on Myanmar and Chinese foreign policy, according to his published works.
He is founder and CEO of ISP Myanmara Thailand-based think tank focused on Myanmar and regional policy issues. Min Zin was also a student activist in Burma's 1988 democracy movement, according to the Democracy Magazine.
His activism got him expelled from high school and he went into hiding to avoid arrest, according to an interview from 2008. He fled to Thailand in 1997 and spent years working as a journalist, later writing for publications including the New York Times and Foreign Policy.
“If I could go back home today, I would go. I belong to Burma. My family is there. I want to dedicate myself to establishing good journalism and good education, because I am aware that education is the key to the development of Burma,” Min Zin told the Jakarta Post in 2008.
He applied to UC Berkeley at age 35. The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment, adding that “a registration verification is underway.”
