September 23, 2026 — President Donald Trump will ask Chinese leader Xi Jinping to free two wrongfully detained Americans — seismologist Youlin Chen and scholar Min Zin — when the two leaders meet at this week’s summit in Washington, the White House has assured Chen’s wife.
Yufang Rong, wife of Youlin Chen, said on September 22 that officials from the State Department and National Security Council told her during a White House meeting on Tuesday that Trump would press Xi for her husband’s release, Reuters reported.
Chen, 54, a Chinese-born U.S. citizen and expert on North Korean nuclear tests, has been imprisoned in China since late 2024. Rong said she fears Beijing plans to try her husband on fabricated espionage charges, even though his U.S.-funded research was openly published, used publicly available data, and was done in collaboration with Chinese scientists.
Trump previously raised Chen’s case with Xi during his May visit to Beijing, but it produced no action, Rong said.
Rong said she was also told Trump would press Xi to release Min Zin, a Myanmar-born U.S. citizen and scholar arrested in China in June. Both men are designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained.
“Resolving the wrongful detentions of US citizens is always a top priority for the president,” a senior U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We hope to see Dr. Chen and Zin come home after this meeting,” said Elizabeth Richards, research director of the James Foley Foundation, a hostage advocacy group.
Beijing has pushed back. China’s ambassador to the U.S. warned on Wednesday that democracy and human rights are “red lines” that cannot be crossed, and a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said the “relevant US person” is suspected of activities endangering China’s national security, adding that there is “no so-called wrongful detention.”
Separately, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators urged Trump on September 22 to press Xi on the persecution of Christian pastors and other religious minorities at the summit, naming detained pastors including the eight remaining Beijing Zion Church leaders.
Xi arrived in Washington on September 23 for a state visit running through September 25, with a White House arrival ceremony on September 24.
FreeChina.live verification note: this report is based on Reuters reporting by Jonathan Landay (September 22) and Reuters’ September 23 summit preview; statements by Yufang Rong, U.S. officials, and Chinese officials are attributed as reported. The underlying detention cases were previously covered in Free China Movement’s September 17 report on the bipartisan Senate resolution. Free China Movement has not independently verified the espionage allegations or the detention conditions.
Sources
- Reuters, “Wife of US seismologist held in China says Trump will ask Xi to free him,” September 22, 2026 (Jonathan Landay)
- Reuters, “Trump to raise detainees with Xi, but other rights issues may not come up,” September 23, 2026