The Chinese regime’s detention of U.S. citizen U Min Zin amounts to coercive “hostage diplomacy,” serving as a serious global warning that other authoritarian states could adopt similar tactics, experts warn.
Scholars at Risk—a U.S.-based academic freedom watchdog group—urged the relevant authorities “to facilitate Min Zin’s immediate and unconditional release, and for his safety to be guaranteed,” according to a statement on Aug. 27.
The department said it will “continue to advocate for Mr. Zin and call for the release of all U.S. citizens who are arbitrarily detained or exit-banned in China.”
Min Zin, a scholar on Burma (also known as Myanmar), was taken into custody on June 3 while attending an academic conference in China’s southwestern Yunnan province at the invitation of the Chinese regime.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson claimed on Aug. 21 that Min Zin was suspected of engaging in activities “endangering Chinese national security.”
Related Stories
The regime’s assertion is “preposterous,” Hunter Marston, an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told The Epoch Times.
“He has not written anything uniquely sensitive to China or China’s influence in Myanmar. Therefore the most logical explanation is that Beijing will seek to use his arrest for political leverage,” he said.
President Donald Trump is expected to meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping around Sept. 24.
“This move has alarming implications if other authoritarian states around the world engage in similar tactics,” he said.
President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping visit the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China, on May 14, 2026. Brendan Smialowski/Pool/Getty Images
Sun Kuo-hsiang, a professor of international affairs and business at Nanhua University in Taiwan, said the regime’s move is a “serious warning” to the international community.
“Globally, this creates a chilling effect on scholars, journalists, NGOs and businesses,” Sun told The Epoch Times.
“It discourages travel, fieldwork, and investment in China; undermines academic and diplomatic exchanges; and enables Beijing to use foreign nationals as potential bargaining assets.”
“[Beijing’s legal terms] such as ‘national security,’ ‘intelligence’ and connections with ‘foreign organizations’ are deliberately vague,“ he said.
Sun said that Min Zin’s entry into China for an officially invited event makes the detention “especially alarming.”
“Even prior cooperation with Chinese institutions may no longer provide protection when an individual’s research conflicts with Beijing’s strategic interests,” he said.
U Min Zin, a scholar who studies Burma, also known as Myanmar, in a file photo. Courtesy of ISP-Myanmar
Ties to Burma
Aung Maw Zin, Min Zin’s brother, told Voice of America that the scholar’s research is publicly available and mainly focuses on the situation in Burma, rather than targeting China, according to its Aug. 26 report.
He expressed shock over the arrest, noting that Min Zin had traveled to China to seek dialogue, “not as China’s enemy.”
Sun said Min Zin’s personal ties to Burma could be another underlying motive behind Beijing’s move.
“Min Zin was probably targeted for his access to sensitive networks involving Chinese scholars, Western policymakers, and Burma’s military, and ethnic armed organizations,” he said.
“It may enable authorities to investigate his sources and intimidate other researchers.”
Anti-coup protesters hold signs that read ‘We don’t accept military coup’ during a march in Mandalay, Burma, on March 14, 2021. AP Photo
‘Deeper Distrust’
Sun said Beijing could use Min Zin’s case to stage a token gesture ahead of the Trump–Xi summit.
The regime “can first detain an American on opaque national-security grounds and then release him shortly before or during the summit,“ Sun said.
“It presents the decision as goodwill and expecting reciprocal movement on Chinese prisoners, sanctions, export controls, or diplomatic symbolism.”
Hostage diplomacy could be tactically useful but “strategically self-defeating,” according to Sun.
“It may secure a prisoner exchange, but Washington is unlikely to trade major interests involving Taiwan, technology, or tariffs for one detainee,” he said.
Sun said that Beijing may believe that freeing Min Zin would help Xi manufacture a summit “victory,” yet it raises the political cost for Trump of offering substantial concessions.
“China may gain a short-term bargaining chip, but at the price of deeper distrust, reputational damage, and a stronger international coalition against state-sponsored arbitrary detention,” Sun said.
