The wife of a US expert on North Korean nuclear tests, who has been imprisoned in China since late 2024, has expressed hope that President Donald Trump will secure his release during a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week. Yufang Rong said she was assured by White House officials that Trump would raise her husband's case with Xi. Her husband, Youlin Chen, a 54-year-old seismologist with a US government contractor, was detained by Chinese state security officers on November 5, 2024, at Beijing International Airport.
Chen's detention was revealed by Reuters in July, and he is one of two Americans held by Beijing that the US has designated as "wrongfully detained." The US has made their release a top priority. Rong said she feared that Beijing planned to try her Chinese-born husband on fabricated espionage charges, despite his US-funded research being openly published and done in collaboration with Chinese scientists. Chen's work detecting shockwaves from North Korean underground nuclear tests has been openly funded by the State Department and the US Air Force Research Laboratory.
Rong met with officials from the State Department and National Security Council at the White House on Tuesday, where she was assured that Trump would ask Xi to free her husband. Trump will welcome Xi on Wednesday for their second meeting since May, amid tensions ranging from trade to Iran and Taiwan. The US official said resolving the wrongful detentions of US citizens is always a top priority for the president. Trump raised Chen's case with Xi during a visit to Beijing in May, but it produced no action.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said that the "relevant US person" is suspected of engaging in activities that endanger China's national security and violate Chinese law. The spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, told reporters in Beijing that China is a country with rule of law, and there is no such thing as wrongful detention. Chen became a US citizen in 2011 and settled in the Boston area. He was arrested as he prepared to fly home after visiting family and lecturing at two universities.
Rong said her husband had been interrogated more than 100 times and that she was concerned about the conditions of his confinement. She said he received substandard medical care and food, and suffered from high blood pressure and diabetes. US embassy officials have been allowed to visit Chen for about 30 minutes once a month, always in the presence of Chinese officials. Rong said she would tell her husband to "be strong" and "be optimistic" if she could see him.
Rong believes that China wants to use her husband's expertise to improve its ability to conceal nuclear tests using decoupling, a technique in which a device is detonated inside a large underground chamber to reduce the size of the shockwaves. The US has accused China of using decoupling to try to mask a low-yield nuclear test blast on June 22, 2020. China denies conducting the test. Chen's Chinese lawyer was not allowed to discuss his visits with Rong.
The US has designated Chen and another American, Min Zin, a scholar arrested in June, as "wrongfully detained." Rong said she was told that Trump also would press Xi to release Min Zin. The case has added to tensions between the US and China, with the US seeking stability amid a range of issues.
Key points
- Trump to raise Chen's case with Xi Jinping during their meeting
- Chen's detention was revealed by Reuters in July
- US has designated Chen as "wrongfully detained" and made his release a top priority
