- WIADOMOŚCI
Beijing targets US scholar for national security breach
Beijing has confirmed the arrest of American scholar U Min Zin. The man is suspected of “espionage and endangering China’s national security.”
The arrest was announced by the spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Lin Jian. During a regular briefing, he stated that “criminal coercive measures” had been applied to the detainee. All rights of the detainee are reportedly being fully protected, and the U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou has been informed of the matter.
According to the New York Times, U Min Zin is an expert on Myanmar politics and a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley. The American researcher is also the founder of the think tank Strategy and Policy – Myanmar. The organisation is involved in the detailed monitoring and analysis of China’s strategic and economic influence in Myanmar.
Contact with the man was lost on June 3 in Kunming, located in the Chinese province of Yunnan bordering Myanmar. The NYT notes that the purpose of the American’s visit to Kunming is not clear. The location is a border region where the interests of Chinese intelligence, the Beijing-allied Burmes junta, and local ethnic armed groups intersect. The scientist’s presence in this environment may have been treated as an attempt to gather sensitive information.
The arrest of U Min Zin took place three weeks after President Donald Trump’s visit to China. During the meeting, the American president praised PRC leader Xi Jinping and declared a desire to establish a partnership, allowing both global powers to cooperate and flourish.
