Joint Statement of Concern for US Citizen & Academic Min Zin’s Detention in China

The below letter, signed by over 100 US professors in the US and abroad, expresses grave concern for scholar of political science and US citizen Min Zin, wrongfully detained in China on June 3, 2026 while traveling to an academic event.

Joint Statement of Concern for US Citizen & Academic Min Zin’s Detention in China

We are scholars of Asia and international affairs who support academic freedom, including the freedom to carry out research and disseminate and publish the results thereof, and who believe academic institutions in both the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the United States benefit from the free and open exchange of ideas, high quality scholarly research, and critical analysis. We are, therefore, gravely concerned by the wrongful detention of our colleague Min Zin, who was detained upon arrival in Kunming, Yunnan Province (PRC), on June 3. Min Zin traveled to Kunming to participate in an academic workshop.

Min Zin is a scholar of international regard who is widely respected for his depth of knowledge, his analytical abilities, and his eagerness to engage in dialogue.

As a teenager, Min Zin spent years in hiding from Myanmar’s military regime for his pro-democracy activism before fleeing to Thailand and from there, to the U.S. In 2001, he attended the School of Journalism at the University of California (UC), Berkeley as a Visiting Scholar. In 2008, Min Zin returned to Berkeley as a Carnegie Teaching Fellow. He so deeply impressed faculty with his writings and intellectual gifts, that the university granted him a special admissions waiver into the Master’s Program in Asian Studies, a rare distinction for an applicant without traditional preparatory degrees.

Min Zin proved to be an exemplary student. After completing his master’s studies, he won a highly competitive place in UC Berkeley’s Department of Political Science, where he held the Chancellor’s Graduate Fellowship. In 2013, Min Zin was awarded an Institute of East Asian Studies Fellowship to support his dissertation research in Myanmar. 

Inspired by the intellectual freedom he had experienced at Berkeley and motivated by a desire to advance critical thinking in Myanmar, Min Zin co-founded the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar (ISP-Myanmar) as an independent think tank in Yangon in 2016. Its flagship publication, Myanmar Quarterly, rapidly became a definitive resource for regional experts and the public alike. Under Min Zin’s leadership, ISP-Myanmar earned an international reputation for rigorous, independent, and non-partisan research and analysis. 

Following the February 2021 military coup, Min Zin and his research team relocated to Thailand where ISP-Myanmar continued to produce data-driven, open-source research and balanced, evidence-based analysis on Myanmar’s political, socioeconomic, and security landscape, and its relations within the region. In keeping with the institute’s commitment to public engagement, all of ISP-Myanmar’s publications are freely accessible on its website. 

We believe it is vital that independent, open-source researchers, such as Min Zin and those at ISP-Myanmar, be able to conduct their work without fear of intimidation or arbitrary detention.

We are grateful that Secretary of State Rubio has formally designated Min Zin as wrongfully detained. We call on the US government to continue to make Min Zin’s case an urgent priority.  We also call on the relevant authorities to facilitate Min Zin’s immediate and unconditional release, and for his safety to be guaranteed, so that he may return to his family and to his team at the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar.

We stand with Min Zin, his family, and the principles of academic freedom.

For more information on Min Zin and his case, you can visit ISP | Free Min Zin.

The views expressed in this statement are of those of the individual signatories and do not represent the official positions, policies, or endorsements of the institutions with which they are affiliated.

Signatories of US university professors and US university professors abroad:

1. Penny Edwards, Catherine and William L. Magistretti Distinguished Professor of South and Southeast Asian Studies, Walter and Elise Haas Professor of Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley
2. Christina Fink, Associate Professor of International Affairs, The George Washington University
3. Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Professor, by courtesy, of Sociology and of Political Science, Stanford University
4. Andrew J. Nathan, Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science, Columbia University  
5. Scot Marciel, Independent Scholar, (Former U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar, 2016-2020)
6. Trude Jacobsen Gidaszewski, Director, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Professor, South and Southeast Asian History, Northern Illinois University
7. Anne Applebaum,  Senior Fellow, Agora Institute, Johns Hopkins University, and Pulitzer Prize winner
8. Michael Nylan, Jane K. Sather Chair of History Emerita, University of California, Berkeley
9. Tyler Giannini, Professor of Clinical Law, Harvard Law School, Harvard University
10. Joseph Cheah, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies,  University of Saint Joseph
11. Susan H. Williams, Walter W. Foskett Professor of Law Emerita, Former Director, Center for Constitutional Democracy, Indiana University Maurer School of Law
12. Mark Sidel, Doyle-Bascom Professor of Law and Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison
13. David Thang Moe, PhD, Assistant Professor of World Christianity and Public Theology, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Affiliate Scholar, Council on Southeast Asia Studies, Yale University 
14. Zoltan Barany, Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Centennial Professor of Government, University of Texas at Austin
15. Francis Fukuyama, Olivier & Nomellini Senior Fellow in International Studies at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Professor, by courtesy, of Political Science, Stanford University
16. Elton Skendaj, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Government, Georgetown University
17. Daniel Mattingly, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Yale University 
18. Karl D. Jackson, C.V. Starr Distinguished Professor of Southeast Asia Studies Emeritus, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University
19. Robert Hass, U.S. Poet Laureate 1995-97, Professor of English Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley
20. Minxin Pei, Professor of Government, Claremont McKenna College
21. Elizabeth Economy, Hargrove Senior Fellow and co-chair of the Program on the US, China, and the World, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University
22. Meredith Weiss, Professor of Political Science, University at Albany, SUNY
23. Jonathan Hassid, Associate Professor of Political Science, Iowa State University
24. Adam Richards MD PhD MPH DTM&H, Senior Affiliate and Core Faculty, Center for Humanitarian Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
25. Magnus Fiskesjö, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Cornell University 
26. Juliane Schober, Professor Emerita, School of  Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Arizona State University  
27. Rory Truex, Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University
28. John G. Dale, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, George Mason University
29. Dr. Lisa Brooten, Professor, School of Media Arts, Director of PhD Studies, College of Arts and Media, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
30. Rosalie Metro, Associate Teaching Professor, College of Education and Human Development, University of Missouri – Columbia
31. Alexandra Kaloyanides, Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina – Charlotte
32. Thomas Carothers, Director, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
33. Oliver Crocco, Associate Professor, School of Leadership & Human Resource Development, Louisiana State University 
34. Tyrell Haberkorn, Plaenert-Bascom Professor of Southeast Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin – Madison 
35. Tuong Vu, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Oregon
36. Matthew J Walton, Associate Professor of Comparative Political Theory, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto
37. Caitlin Marie Miles, PhD, Assistant Professor, Digital Media Studies, University of Texas at Dallas
38. Ardeth Thawnghmung, Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts – Lowell
39. Bruce Dickson, Director, Sigur Center for Asian Studies, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University
40. Victoria Tin-bor Hui 許田波, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Notre Dame
41. Barbara Watson Andaya, Professor Emerita, University of Hawai’i at Manoa
42. Ward Keeler, Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin
43. Anne M. Blackburn, Department of Asian Studies, Cornell University
44. Ko Ko Thett, Henry Hart Rice Fellow, The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, Yale University 
45. John T. Sidel, Sir Patrick Gillam Professor of International and Comparative Politics, Director, Saw Swee Hock, Southeast Asia Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science
46. M. Steven Fish, Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
47. Frederick Dickinson, Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania
48. Ian Baird, Professor of Geography, University of Wisconsin – Madison 
49. T.J. Pempel, Jack M. Forcey Professor Emerit, University of California, Berkeley
50. Robert Sutter, Professor of Practice of International Affairs, The George Washington University
51. Jennifer McCoy, Regent’s Professor Emerita of Political Science, Georgia State University
52. Ann Marie Murphy, Professor, School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
53. Leonardo R. Arriola, Dean of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, University of California, Merced
54. Gavin Douglas, Professor of Ethnomusicology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
55. John Clifford Holt, William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Humanities in Religion and Asian Studies, Bowdoin College
56. Erik Harms, Professor of Anthropology, Yale University
57. Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Distinguished Professor of History, University of California, Irvine
58. Sheri Berman, Professor of Political Science, Barnard College 
59. Brian Joseph, Adjunct Faculty, Department of Government, Georgetown University
60. Nilanjana Bardhan, Professor, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
61. Kathleen Cruz Gutierrez, Associate Professor, History, University of California, Santa Cruz
62. Margaret Scott Rauch, Adjunct Professor, New York University
63. Christina Schwenkel, Professor of Anthropology, Former Director, Program in Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Riverside
64. David Williams, Professor of Law Emeritus, Maurer School of Law, Indiana University 
65. Celeste Arrington, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, Director, GW Institute for Korean Studies, The George Washington University
66. Michael C. Davis, Professor of Law and International Affairs, Jindal Global University
67. Susan D. Hyde, Robson Professor, Travers Department of Political Science, Co-Director, Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley
68. Courtney Wittekind, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Purdue University
69. Daniel J. Sargent. Professor of Public Policy and History, University of California, Berkeley
70. Donald Clarke, Professor of Law Emeritus, George Washington University Law School
71. Scott Straus, Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
72. Joseph Errington, Professor Emeritus, Anthropology, Yale University 
73. Michael E. Brown, Professor, Former Dean (2005-2015), Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University
74. Nancy Bermeo, Nuffield Senior Research Fellow, Oxford University
75. Lawrence Cohen, Chair, Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley
76. John D.H. Downing, Professor and Research Center Director Emeritus, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
77. Kenneth Wong, Lecturer, Introductory and Intermediate Burmese, Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley 
78. Tamara Loos, Professor, History, Cornell University
79. Kevin O’Brien, Jack M. Forcey Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
80. Melissa Carlson, Senior Teaching Fellow, SOAS, London
81. Juno Salazar Parreñas, Associate Professor of Science & Technology Studies and Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Cornell University
82. Peter Zinoman, Helen Fawcett Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley
83. Cynthia McClintock, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University
84. Megan Thomas, Associate Professor of Politics, University of California, Santa Cruz
85. Jason Wittenberg, Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
86. Jonathan Chavez, Professor of Chinese, The George Washington University 
87. Zachary Shore, National Security Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
88. Lisandro E. Claudio, Associate Professor, Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies and Chair, Center for Southeast Asia Studies, University of California, Berkeley
89. Šumit Ganguly, Senior Fellow, Director, Huntington Program on Strengthening US-India Relations, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University
90. Matt Schissler, Lecturer in Buddhist Studies, University of Melbourne
91. Bonnie C. Wade, Distinguished Professor Emeritus (Music, Asian Studies), University of California, Berkeley
92. Sean R. Roberts, Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies, Professor of Practice in International Affairs, Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University 
93. John Buchanan, Independent Scholar
94. Katherine A. Bowie, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
95. Elliott Prasse-Freeman, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, National University of Singapore
96. Min Jung Kim, Assistant Professor of International Affairs, George Washington University
97. Susan Ariel Aaronson, Research Professor of International Affairs and Director of the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy, The George Washington University
98. Munis D. Faruqui, Sarah Kailath Chair of India Studies, Professor, Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley 
99. Alicia Turner, Associate Professor, York University, Toronto
100. Emily A. Ray, Senior Clinical Fellow, Human Rights Entrepreneurs Clinic, Harvard Law School
101. Steven Vogel, Professor of Political Science and Political Economy, University of California, Berkeley
102. Marina Welker, Professor, Department of Anthropology, Cornell University
103. Colleen Lye, Associate Professor of English,  University of California, Berkeley
104. Barbara Miller, Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs, The George Washington University 
105. George W. Breslauer, Professor of the Graduate School, University of California, Berkeley
106. Sarah Maxim, Independent Scholar, Vice Chair (2003-2023), Center for Southeast Asia Studies,  University of California, Berkeley 
107. Eric Stover, Research Professor, Berkeley Law and Co-Faculty Director, Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley
108. Alexa Koenig, Research Professor, Berkeley Law, Co-Faculty Director, Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley
109. Michael McFaul, Professor of Political Science, Senior Fellow, Freeman-Spogli Institute & Hoover Institution, Stanford University
110. Jim Fearon, Professor of Political Science, Senior Fellow, Freeman-Spogli Institute, Stanford University
111. Elanah Uretsky, Professor of International and Global Studies, Brandeis University
112. Joshua Kurlantzick, Senior Fellow for Southeast Asia and South Asia, Council on Foreign Relations
113. Alexander Dukalskis, Head of School, Politics & International Relations, University College Dublin