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Sylvia Zin, wife of Min Zin, testifies during the House East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee hearing about detainees on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Mariam Zuhaib)<\/p>\nSylvia Zin, wife of Min Zin, testifies during the House East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee hearing about detainees on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Mariam Zuhaib)<\/p>\n
More than three months after\u00a0Min Zin, a U.S. scholar of Myanmar politics, was detained in China, his wife made a direct plea on Wednesday to President Donald Trump, asking him to secure her husband\u2019s freedom when meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowing the president\u2019s 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 American citizens,\u201d Sylvia Zin said during a congressional hearing.<\/p>\n
Min Zin, a UC Berkeley scholar and executive director of the think tank ISP-Myanmar, traveled to China in June for an academic workshop when he was detained by China\u2019s state security on suspicion of endangering national security, his wife said.<\/p>\n
He is one of two U.S. citizens designated by the State Department as wrongfully detained in China. The other is\u00a0Youlin Chen<\/a>, a Chinese-born American seismologist who has been detained in China for nearly two years. Their cases are now considered a high priority for the U.S. government when engaging diplomatically with Beijing.<\/p>\n As Xi\u2019s expected visit to Washington draws near, families of those detained in China are coming to Washington, hoping that attention at the highest level could bring their loved ones home. The son of imprisoned former Hong Kong media mogul\u00a0Jimmy Lai<\/a>\u00a0also was on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, making a push for his release on humanitarian grounds.<\/p>\n In July, Beijing suddenly released\u00a0Ezra Jin Mingri<\/a>, a Chinese pastor, after Trump raised his case with Xi during a state visit to China in May.<\/p>\n Min Zin\u2019s wife worries about his health<\/p>\n The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to a question about whether an agreement could be reached for the men\u2019s freedom. The White House has said Trump wants every American detained abroad to return home.<\/p>\n In her testimony, Sylvia Zin said she was in \u201ca state of absolute shock\u201d when she learned of the charge against her 53-year-old husband. His work is open-source research on Myanmar, and he is dedicated to independent academic freedom, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m trying to be strong for our daughter, but I\u2019m constantly wondering if he\u2019s OK and how to get him back home to us,\u201d she testified before the House foreign affairs subcommittee for East Asia and the Pacific.<\/p>\n She has not been able to speak directly with her husband and learns about his condition through U.S. consular officials who visit him.<\/p>\n \u201cSo every month, we anxiously await his consular visits because they reassure us that he is alive,\u201d Sylvia Zin said. From the U.S. officials, she said she learned that her husband was initially interrogated every day for four to six hours and is held in a small cell where the light stays on around the clock.<\/p>\n Family of Jimmy Lai continues the fight<\/p>\n During his May visit to China, Trump also brought up with Xi the case of Jimmy Lai, but later said it was \u201ca tough one.\u201d<\/p>\n A Hong Kong court\u00a0sentenced Lai to 20 years in prison<\/a>\u00a0in February following his conviction under a Beijing-imposed national security law.<\/p>\n Ahead of Xi\u2019s visit to Washington, Lai\u2019s family is making another push.<\/p>\n \u201cLet Jimmy Lai come home to his family and let him sit beside his daughter in her hardest moment,\u201d his son Sebastien Lai said during a hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. He described his father as \u201ca 78-year-old man who has already suffered enough.\u201d<\/p>\n