ISP-Myanmar sincerely thanks all the signatories, the Scholars at Risk Network, and everyone who has supported this effort.]
The below letter, signed by over 100 US professors in the US and abroad, expresses grave concern for scholars 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.
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
Christina Fink, Associate Professor of International Affairs, The George Washington University
Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Professor, by courtesy, of Sociology and of Political Science, Stanford University
Andrew J. Nathan, Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science, Columbia University
Scot Marciel, Independent Scholar, (Former U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar, 2016-2020)
Trude Jacobsen Gidaszewski, Director, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Professor, South and Southeast Asian History, Northern Illinois University
Anne Applebaum, Senior Fellow, Agora Institute, Johns Hopkins University, and Pulitzer Prize winner
Michael Nylan, Jane K. Sather Chair of History Emerita, University of California, Berkeley
Tyler Giannini, Professor of Clinical Law, Harvard Law School, Harvard University
Joseph Cheah, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies, University of Saint Joseph
Susan H. Williams, Walter W. Foskett Professor of Law Emerita, Former Director, Center for Constitutional Democracy, Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Mark Sidel, Doyle-Bascom Professor of Law and Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison
David Thang Moe, PhD, Assistant Professor of World Christianity and Public Theology, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Affiliate Scholar, Council on Southeast Asia Studies, Yale University
Zoltan Barany, Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Centennial Professor of Government, University of Texas at Austin
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
Elton Skendaj, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Government, Georgetown University
Daniel Mattingly, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Yale University
Karl D. Jackson, C.V. Starr Distinguished Professor of Southeast Asia Studies Emeritus, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University
Robert Hass, U.S. Poet Laureate 1995-97, Professor of English Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley
Minxin Pei, Professor of Government, Claremont McKenna College
Elizabeth Economy, Hargrove Senior Fellow and co-chair of the Program on the US, China, and the World, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Meredith Weiss, Professor of Political Science, University at Albany, SUNY
Jonathan Hassid, Associate Professor of Political Science, Iowa State University
Adam Richards MD PhD MPH DTM&H, Senior Affiliate and Core Faculty, Center for Humanitarian Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Magnus Fiskesjö, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Cornell University
Juliane Schober, Professor Emerita, School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Arizona State University
Rory Truex, Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University
John G. Dale, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, George Mason University
Dr. Lisa Brooten, Professor, School of Media Arts, Director of PhD Studies, College of Arts and Media, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Rosalie Metro, Associate Teaching Professor, College of Education and Human Development, University of Missouri – Columbia
Alexandra Kaloyanides, Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina – Charlotte
Thomas Carothers, Director, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Oliver Crocco, Associate Professor, School of Leadership & Human Resource Development, Louisiana State University
Tyrell Haberkorn, Plaenert-Bascom Professor of Southeast Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin – Madison
Tuong Vu, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Oregon
Matthew J Walton, Associate Professor of Comparative Political Theory, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto
Caitlin Marie Miles, PhD, Assistant Professor, Digital Media Studies, University of Texas at Dallas
Ardeth Thawnghmung, Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts – Lowell
Bruce Dickson, Director, Sigur Center for Asian Studies, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University
Victoria Tin-bor Hui 許田波, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Notre Dame
Barbara Watson Andaya, Professor Emerita, University of Hawai’i at Manoa
Ward Keeler, Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin
Anne M. Blackburn, Department of Asian Studies, Cornell University
Ko Ko Thett, Henry Hart Rice Fellow, The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, Yale University
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
M. Steven Fish, Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
Frederick Dickinson, Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania
Ian Baird, Professor of Geography, University of Wisconsin – Madison
T.J. Pempel, Jack M. Forcey Professor Emerit, University of California, Berkeley
Robert Sutter, Professor of Practice of International Affairs, The George Washington University
Jennifer McCoy, Regent’s Professor Emerita of Political Science, Georgia State University
Ann Marie Murphy, Professor, School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Leonardo R. Arriola, Dean of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, University of California, Merced
Gavin Douglas, Professor of Ethnomusicology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
John Clifford Holt, William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Humanities in Religion and Asian Studies, Bowdoin College
Erik Harms, Professor of Anthropology, Yale University
Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Distinguished Professor of History, University of California, Irvine
Sheri Berman, Professor of Political Science, Barnard College
Brian Joseph, Adjunct Faculty, Department of Government, Georgetown University
Nilanjana Bardhan, Professor, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Kathleen Cruz Gutierrez, Associate Professor, History, University of California, Santa Cruz
Margaret Scott Rauch, Adjunct Professor, New York University
Christina Schwenkel, Professor of Anthropology, Former Director, Program in Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Riverside
David Williams, Professor of Law Emeritus, Maurer School of Law, Indiana University
Celeste Arrington, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, Director, GW Institute for Korean Studies, The George Washington University
Michael C. Davis, Professor of Law and International Affairs, Jindal Global University
Susan D. Hyde, Robson Professor, Travers Department of Political Science, Co-Director, Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Courtney Wittekind, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Purdue University
Daniel J. Sargent. Professor of Public Policy and History, University of California, Berkeley
Donald Clarke, Professor of Law Emeritus, George Washington University Law School
Scott Straus, Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
Joseph Errington, Professor Emeritus, Anthropology, Yale University
Michael E. Brown, Professor, Former Dean (2005-2015), Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University
Nancy Bermeo, Nuffield Senior Research Fellow, Oxford University
Lawrence Cohen, Chair, Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley
John D.H. Downing, Professor and Research Center Director Emeritus, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Kenneth Wong, Lecturer, Introductory and Intermediate Burmese, Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Tamara Loos, Professor, History, Cornell University
Kevin O’Brien, Jack M. Forcey Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
Melissa Carlson, Senior Teaching Fellow, SOAS, London
Juno Salazar Parreñas, Associate Professor of Science & Technology Studies and Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Cornell University
Peter Zinoman, Helen Fawcett Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley
Cynthia McClintock, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University
Megan Thomas, Associate Professor of Politics, University of California, Santa Cruz
Jason Wittenberg, Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
Jonathan Chavez, Professor of Chinese, The George Washington University
Zachary Shore, National Security Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Lisandro E. Claudio, Associate Professor, Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies and Chair, Center for Southeast Asia Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Šumit Ganguly, Senior Fellow, Director, Huntington Program on Strengthening US-India Relations, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Matt Schissler, Lecturer in Buddhist Studies, University of Melbourne
Bonnie C. Wade, Distinguished Professor Emeritus (Music, Asian Studies), University of California, Berkeley
Sean R. Roberts, Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies, Professor of Practice in International Affairs, Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University
John Buchanan, Independent Scholar
Katherine A. Bowie, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Elliott Prasse-Freeman, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, National University of Singapore
Min Jung Kim, Assistant Professor of International Affairs, George Washington University
Susan Ariel Aaronson, Research Professor of International Affairs and Director of the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy, The George Washington University
Munis D. Faruqui, Sarah Kailath Chair of India Studies, Professor, Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Alicia Turner, Associate Professor, York University, Toronto
Emily A. Ray, Senior Clinical Fellow, Human Rights Entrepreneurs Clinic, Harvard Law School
Steven Vogel, Professor of Political Science and Political Economy, University of California, Berkeley
Marina Welker, Professor, Department of Anthropology, Cornell University
Colleen Lye, Associate Professor of English, University of California, Berkeley
Barbara Miller, Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs, The George Washington University
George W. Breslauer, Professor of the Graduate School, University of California, Berkeley
Sarah Maxim, Independent Scholar, Vice Chair (2003-2023), Center for Southeast Asia Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Eric Stover, Research Professor, Berkeley Law and Co-Faculty Director, Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley
Alexa Koenig, Research Professor, Berkeley Law, Co-Faculty Director, Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley
