September 24, 2026 — Min Zin, the Myanmar-born U.S. scholar detained in China since June 3, is being held by China’s Ministry of State Security in a “Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location” (RSDL) — an undisclosed detention site that human rights groups call a “black site” — without formal charges, access to a lawyer, or a trial date, CBS News reported on September 23.
In an interview with CBS, Min’s wife Sylvia Zin said more than 100 days had passed without her being allowed to see or speak with her husband. His last message was a brief text on June 3 saying he had landed in Kunming, where he had traveled from his home in Thailand for an academic conference at the invitation of a Chinese professor. When he failed to check into his hotel, colleagues alerted the family; Sylvia then called the U.S. consulates, and later received a call from a Chinese number telling her in English that authorities were conducting a “preliminary compulsory investigation.”
“They just said he’s under investigation for endangering national security. That’s all we know,” Sylvia Zin told CBS. “He’s not a spy. He’s not doing anything wrong.”
According to CBS, U.S. officials confirmed that Chinese authorities have permitted American consular officials to meet with Min monthly in 30-minute increments at a nearby hotel — three such heavily monitored encounters so far. Sylvia said her husband has lost weight and developed knee pain; he was able to say he had been interrogated for four to six hours, but not how often. The family has retained an attorney, but Min has not been permitted to see the lawyer. Sylvia has written letters for a U.S. official to read aloud to him.
The couple fled Burma in their youth during the 1980s pro-democracy movement and became naturalized U.S. citizens and California residents. Min runs the ISP-Myanmar think tank studying China’s role in Myanmar, and U.S. officials confirmed the organization received U.S. government funding in the past. CBS notes the timing was unusual: Min had been issued a 10-year multiple-entry visa and had visited Shanghai eight months earlier, and his June arrest came just weeks after Trump met Xi in Beijing in May and discussed others in Chinese custody. A senior fellow at the Cato Institute told CBS the detention was likely intended to punish research into China’s role in Myanmar, while a Council on Foreign Relations expert said the timing suggested a bid for leverage ahead of Thursday’s summit.
The Trump administration granted Min the formal “wrongfully detained” designation in August. In a statement to CBS, Assistant Secretary Dylan Johnson said the administration had called “at the highest levels for the immediate release of Min Zin, Youlin Chen and all Americans wrongfully detained overseas”: “We want no American left behind and we are working to make that a reality.”
Chen’s wife, Yufang Rong, is in Washington this week meeting State Department and National Security Council officials; she told CBS that U.S. officials confirmed Trump plans to discuss her husband — a seismologist held since late 2024 — with Xi. “The president has brought home over 100 wrongfully detained Americans, right? So, I’m hoping my husband is the next one,” Sylvia Zin said.
What you can do
Contact U.S. officials and your representatives to keep Min Zin and Youlin Chen on the summit agenda and to press for access to a lawyer, humane conditions, and release; share this page to keep their cases visible while the summit is underway.
FreeChina.live verification note: all detention-condition details are CBS News’ reported facts and attributed quotations (the interview took place in Washington on September 19). Assessments by the Cato Institute and Council on Foreign Relations analysts are those commentators’ stated views. This package is a follow-up to FreeChina.live’s September 22 coverage of the Reuters wire on the wives’ advocacy; it reports CBS’s new reporting on conditions of detention, not the same wire. Free China Movement has not independently verified the detention details beyond CBS’s reporting.
Sources
- CBS News (via WSGW syndication mirror of full CBS text), “Wife of scholar detained in China wants Trump to press Xi to release him,” September 23, 2026
- Reuters wire mirror, “Exclusive: Wife of US seismologist held in China says Trump will ask Xi to free him,” September 22, 2026