U.S. Declares Two Americans Held in China 'Wrongfully Detained'

Overview

• The State Department announced on Thursday, Aug. 20, that it has formally designated two U.S. nationals held in China as "wrongfully detained" and has publicly demanded their immediate release.
• One of the detainees, identified in U.S. reporting as Minjin, was taken into custody in June and is a Myanmar-born researcher who founded a private think tank focused on China’s Myanmar policy.
• The second person the State Department named is a U.S. seismologist who has also been accused by Chinese authorities of spying, according to the U.S. determination.
• U.S. coverage places the cases in a broader pattern of foreign detentions tied to China’s 2014 anti-espionage law, which rights groups and reporters say has led to repeated arrests of foreign researchers and other non-Chinese nationals.
• The designation increases formal diplomatic tools and could make the detentions a topic at the September U.S.-China leaders' meeting, and Chinese officials’ public response to the U.S. move was not reported in the available coverage.