China arrests US researcher it says is suspected of ‘spying’

China says it is holding an American citizen accused of espionage, identifying the man as a political analyst at a policy think tank focusing on neighbouring Myanmar.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the arrest of the man on suspicion of “spying” and “endangering national security” on Friday, a day after United States media reports said a scholar holding dual US and Myanmar citizenship was detained in early June.

Min Zin – a founder of the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar (ISP-M) – “has been subjected to criminal compulsory measures”, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news briefing.

Lin said China had notified the US consulate general in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou of the arrest.

The ISP-M researches the political, resource and conflict dynamics of Myanmar, which was plunged into civil war by a 2021 coup.

News of the arrest comes as Beijing’s Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that Myanmar’s President Min Aung Hlaing is set to visit China from June 15 to 19.

The arrest also follows US President Donald Trump’s state visit to China in mid-May as Washington attempted to ease tensions resulting from the tariff war Trump ignited last year.

Trump has said he plans to welcome his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to Washington in late September.

At least 200 Americans detained in China

Min Zin is a researcher who studied politics in Myanmar and who protested against military rule as a teenager, according to The New York Times (NYT), which published the initial report about his arrest on Thursday.

The scholar disappeared in Kunming, Yunnan province, close to the Myanmar border, on June 3, according to the report. His research group, the ISP-M, is based in Yangon, Myanmar’s former capital, it said.

Since a military coup in 2021 resulted in ongoing civil war, the group has operated from different locations, with Min Zin spending time in Myanmar, the US, and Thailand, where he lives.

According to an Instagram post from a separate policy group that hosted talks Min Zin participated in earlier in May, the researcher is also a PhD candidate in the Travers Department of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley.

It is unclear why Min Zin was arrested or whether he was conducting research at the time of his detention.

The researcher has previously written opinion pieces on Myanmar politics that were equally critical of the military government, as well as the opposition groups it is fighting.

The US Department of State confirmed to the NYT that the US was aware of the arrest and was working to “provide the appropriate consular assistance” but did not give any details, the newspaper said.

“China is a country under the rule of law,” the Chinese embassy in Washington told the NYT in a statement. “All foreigners living and travelling in China must observe Chinese laws, and those who violate the law and commit crimes will be held legally accountable.”