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WASHINGTON: Ahead of a high-stakes summit between the US and Chinese leaders, the wife of a detained Chinese American seismologist expressed hope that an intervention by President Donald Trump could bring home her husband, Youlin Chen, nearly two years after he was detained in China.<\/p>\n
Along with issues ranging from artificial intelligence security to Iran, Trump is expected to raise with Chinese leader Xi Jinping the cases of Chen, 54, and Min Zin, 53, the only two American citizens considered by the US government to be wrongfully detained in China.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he\u2019s personally involved in such cases, Americans come back home. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve learned,\u201d Yufang Rong told The Associated Press in an interview in Washington on Tuesday, a day before Xi\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n Trump spoke with Xi about Chen when the US president was in Beijing in May, Rong said, and if Trump mentions the case again this week, \u201cI\u2019m sure … this case would be solved soon.\u201d<\/p>\n The White House has said Trump wants every American detained abroad to return home. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a question about the cases of both men, whose families have traveled to Washington to meet senior US officials ahead of Xi\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n Wife of detained American says seismologist has \u2018done nothing wrong\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Chen, who was born in China and moved to the US in 1998 for academic pursuits, was detained in November 2024 by China\u2019s state security agents when he was wrapping up a personal trip to visit his parents in Beijing, Rong said.<\/p>\n Chen, who studies the Earth and earthquakes and is based in Boston, was stopped at an airport and was later charged with espionage, a charge the family denies. \u201cHe has done nothing wrong,\u201d Rong said.<\/p>\n Chen\u2019s work is open and transparent, and he has collaborated with scientists around the world, including those in China, Rong said. She said his detention came as an utter shock.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one had expected such a thing would happen to him. He is a seismologist. He has been doing his research during his entire career,\u201d Rong said.<\/p>\n Chen also studies nuclear tests, including those in North Korea, his wife said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe can use data to detect if something (that happens) underground is a natural earthquake or is a nuclear explosion. And he can, using his methodologies, he can estimate the size of the nuclear explosion,\u201d Rong said, speculating that Beijing might have targeted Chen for his expertise.<\/p>\n Chen works for the Florida-based consulting firm EMR Solutions & Technology, through which he\u2019s done contract work for the US government, much of it involving collaborating with Chinese colleagues to analyze seismological data, said Eric Lebson of Global Reach, a Washington-based nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing home Americans wrongly detained abroad.<\/p>\n Chen only works on open research and has no security clearance, said Lebson, whose group is advising the family.<\/p>\n Since his detention, Rong said she has never had direct contact with Chen but learned about his condition through US consular officials who periodically visit the scientist.<\/p>\n Through notes dictated to those consular officials, Chen has told his wife not to worry about him and even still conveys how to handle mundane household chores such as changing air conditioning filters.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I know he is going through such unthinkable difficulties,\u201d Rong said. \u201cIt\u2019s very hard to read his message each time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI really worry about his health \u2014 mental health and physical health,\u201d she said. \u201cHe has a lot of medical conditions: diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol level. I don\u2019t think he has access to the medication that he used to have in the US\u201d<\/p>\n US lawmakers call for the release of Chen and others who have been detained<\/strong><\/p>\n The other wrongfully detained US citizen in China is Min Zin, a scholar of Myanmar politics who was detained in June when traveling to the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming for an academic workshop.<\/p>\n He\u2019s held on suspicion of endangering national security, according to his wife, Sylvia Zin.<\/p>\n A group of American lawmakers introduced a bipartisan resolution last week condemning China\u2019s wrongful detention of the US scholars and urging the US government to prioritize their safe return.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is my hope that this bipartisan resolution from the United States Congress will bring increased attention to the unjust detention of Dr. Youlin Chen and Min Zin and force the Chinese government to do the right thing and release them immediately,\u201d said Sen. Ed Markey, D.-Mass., who represents Chen\u2019s home state.<\/p>\n Some lawmakers also expressed hope that Trump could bring up with Xi other detentions in China, including those of activists, Christians and members of ethnic minorities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n