WASHINGTON: A Chinese-born American seismologist who has published US-funded work on detecting North Korean nuclear tests has been detained in China for nearly two years and faces trial on spying charges, according to his wife, US lawmakers and two hostage advocacy groups. The case of Youlin Chen, reported here for the first time, \u200badds an irritant to the tense relationship between the nuclear-armed rivals and comes as President Donald Trump seeks to keep the relationship steady following last year\u2019s trade war.<\/p>\n
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on March 19 designated Chen, 54, as \u201cwrongfully detained,\u201d making his release a top US priority. The Trump administration has withheld a public announcement to allow space for high-level diplomacy aimed at securing his freedom, according to his wife, Yufang Rong.<\/p>\n
A US source familiar with Chen\u2019s case said the administration was \u201cfocused on gaining his release from his unjustifiable detention.\u201d The source spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic talks.<\/p>\n
Chen, who became a US citizen in 2011 and lives in Boston, Massachusetts, is the only American currently held in China designated as wrongfully detained, according to his wife and hostage advocates. Rong said she has been told by the White House and the State Department that during a state visit to Beijing in May, Trump raised her husband\u2019s detention with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who promised to look in to it. Xi\u2019s government, however, has taken no action, she said.<\/p>\n
The US source did not directly confirm that \u200cTrump discussed Chen with Xi. \u200cBut the source said the pair have a \u201cvery good personal relationship. This is one of many facets in the \u200bUS-China \u200crelationship. No \u2060one issue \u200bis \u2060defining.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a Reuters interview, Rong expressed concern that Beijing has decided even before putting Chen on trial to find him guilty of espionage, a crime that in China carries a possible sentence of up to life in prison or even the death penalty for cases deemed especially grave.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe they will convict him no matter what and the trial will be behind closed doors,\u201d said Rong, who is also a seismologist but does not collaborate on her husband\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
The Foley Foundation, a hostage advocacy organization that has been tracking Chen\u2019s case, believes that Chen is among at least 12 Americans unjustly held in China, including people under exit bans, said Elizabeth Richards, the group\u2019s director of hostage advocacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Trump has been clear that he wants every American detained abroad to return home, and he has reunited over 100 individuals with their families since taking office this term,\u201d said deputy White House press secretary Anna Kelly.<\/p>\n
The Office of the US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs and \u2060the Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON: A Chinese-born American seismologist who has published US-funded work on detecting North Korean nuclear tests has been detained in China for nearly two years and faces trial on spying charges, according to his wife, US lawmakers and two hostage advocacy groups. The case of Youlin Chen, reported here for the first time, \u200badds an …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":100269,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100270,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100251\/revisions\/100270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}