Wife of US scholar jailed in China asks Trump to raise arrest at Xi meeting
Sylvia Zin is among the family members of people imprisoned in China who are seeking Trump's help when he hosts the country's leader next week.
**Wife of US scholar jailed in China asks Trump to raise arrest at Xi meeting**
The wife of a US scholar held in China on spying and national security charges has urged President Donald Trump to push for his release when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House next week.
U Min Zin, a director at a think tank focused on Myanmar, was detained on 3 June after traveling to the Chinese city of Kunming for an academic conference.
"I'm deeply hopeful that President Trump will raise my husband's case with President Xi Jinping at the summit next week," his wife, Sylvia Zin, told Congress on Wednesday.
Xi is scheduled to arrive in Washington DC on Wednesday for a state visit. The trip follows Xi’s visit with Trump in Beijing in May.
Before the meeting, families of prisoners held in China have come to the US capital to press for their release.
Sylvia Zin testified on Wednesday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee at a hearing called *Lives, Not Leverage: The Long Arm of China and North Korea's Repression*.
In her testimony, Zin said she believed Trump could also help win the release of Chen Youlin, a US seismologist who monitors nuclear tests and has been imprisoned in China for two years.
"Knowing the president's historic record on bringing wrongfully detained Americans home has reassured me that he will also be able to secure the swift release of Min Zin and other wrongfully detained citizens," she said.
Congresswoman Young Kim, the subcommittee chairwoman, opened the hearing with a warning to Americans: "If you travel to China, Beijing may take you hostage as leverage in diplomatic negotiation."
Addressing Zin’s arrest, she added: "Beijing wanted to send a message to those whose research inconvenienced it, and detained Mr Zin ahead of the upcoming Trump-Xi summit."
Min Zin, who was a student activist during Myanmar’s 1988 pro-democracy movement, leads the Myanmar Institute for Strategic and Policy Studies (ISP-Myanmar), a think tank that examines China’s role in Myanmar, including Chinese interests, relations, and regional influence.
The son of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai also appeared on Capitol Hill to urge Trump to secure his father’s release. The US president previously raised the case with Xi, telling reporters that his Chinese counterpart "told me that would be a tough one".
When asked for comment on Thursday, a senior White House official, speaking anonymously, told the BBC: "Resolving the wrongful detentions of US citizens is always a top priority for the President."
Last month, the US State Department said two Americans — U Min Zin and Chen Youlin — were being "wrongfully detained" in China.
That designation in the US allows the cases to be moved to the office of the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, increasing the visibility of each case and enabling the US government to devote more resources to securing their release.
Zin, who lives in Thailand, told the committee on Wednesday that she still has not been able to speak with her husband in prison, "so every month, we anxiously await his consular visits because they reassure us that he is alive".
Zin said US officials had told her that Min Zin was subjected to up to six hours of interrogation each day when he first arrived in jail.
"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," she said.
The last time Trump and Xi formally met, Trump pressed for the return of another American in prison. Underground church leader Jin Mingri was released two months after Trump’s request.