China has detained American citizen and seismologist Chen Yulin for almost two years on charges of espionage. Now his family has made this matter public for the first time. Chen, 54, was arrested in November 2024 when he went to Beijing on a private visit to meet his family. This information has been given by the American organization Global Reach, which helps American citizens imprisoned abroad.
Chen has worked on many scientific projects funded by America. His main work was to detect nuclear tests taking place in Asia through earthquake data. He has done a lot of research especially on North Korea’s nuclear tests. America has also been alleging for a long time that China conducts secret nuclear tests, although China denies these allegations.
Why did the information about the arrest come out now?
Chen’s wife Rong Yufang, who is also a scientist, said that the allegations of espionage leveled against her husband are completely false. He said that all of Chen’s work has been done openly and in collaboration with scientists from other countries. He also always worked in a transparent manner with Chinese scientists.
The family says that they hoped that China would soon release Chen, but this did not happen. Therefore now he has decided to make this matter public. America says that Chen has been wrongly detained. China’s Foreign Ministry said that its judicial institutions work in accordance with the law and there is no such thing as wrongful detention. In China, espionage cases can range from life imprisonment to death penalty.
Took US citizenship in 2011
Born in China, Chen became an American citizen in 2011 and lives in Boston, USA. In December 2020, he published a research on seismic data from Asia, which included China. Its purpose was to improve the technology of detecting nuclear tests.
Rong said that after his arrest, her husband was interrogated more than 100 times. For the first 13 months he was not even allowed to meet a lawyer. She said that she has not talked to her husband for the last 600 days and she is worried about his health. Chen suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
What does China want to achieve from the chain?
Global Reach claims that the US government suspects that Chen’s arrest may be linked to China’s alleged secret nuclear tests. The organization says China may want to use Chen’s expertise to understand the US nuclear test detection system.
This matter has come to light at a time when a month ago China had also confirmed the arrest of another American researcher Min Jin on charges of espionage and threatening national security. Meanwhile, American MP Edward Markey said that China’s behavior with Chen could harm the scientific and educational cooperation between the two countries. He expressed hope that after increasing international pressure, China would release him soon.
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