Think Tank Condemns China’s Arrest of Myanmar-Born U.S. Scholar

The think tank of a Myanmar-born U.S. scholar who was arrested in China for alleged spying and endangering Chinese national security has condemned his detention as “wrongful” and demanded his immediate release.

The Institute for Strategy and Policy–Myanmar (ISP-Myanmar) in a statement Wednesday said it is “deeply troubled by the wrongful detention” of its executive director U Min Zin, who was arrested on arrival in Kunming on June 3.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeman Lin Jian told reporters last week that the U.S. citizen was “lawfully subjected to criminal compulsory measures by the relevant authorities on suspicion of engaging in espionage activities that endanger

China’sBut ISP said he made the trip solely to attend an academic workshop.

“ISP–Myanmar calls for the immediate and unconditional release of U Min Zin,” added the statement issued nearly two weeks after his arrest.

ISP is a nongovernmental policy think tank whose research focuses on China-Myanmar relations, among other issues.

A former student activist and Irrawaddy culture editor, U Min Zin is currently a political science Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Berkeley.

He founded ISP–Myanmar in 2016 and has written extensively on Myanmar’s politics, economy and international relations for The New York Times, Foreign Policy and other news outlets.

During the National League for Democracy government from 2016-20, he led and hosted the “Yaw Mingyi Zayat” talk shows, an intellectual forum on sustainable development and policy reform featuring prominent public figures from various sectors.

Since the 2021 coup, he and ISP have been based in Thailand, focusing their research on peace-building and political economy in the context of Myanmar’s crises since the military takeover and China’s growing influence on the regime.

The ISP said on Wednesday that it “remains steadfast in its mission to conduct independent open-source research and provide analysis for a better understanding of Myanmar’s political, social, and economic developments.”

It added research organizations must be able to conduct their work without intimidation. national security.”