China has arrested Min Zin, a US-based academic and Myanmar policy expert, on suspicion of espionage endangering national security. He disappeared on 3 June after travelling to Kunming (a city in China's southwestern Yunnan province) for a conference, according to a Burmese activist familiar with the case. The arrest is notable both for its rarity — it is uncommon for Beijing to detain US citizens on national security grounds — and its timing, coming just weeks after a diplomatic meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi aimed at stabilising relations between the two countries. Min Zin, a PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, founded ISP Myanmar, a think tank that has published research on Chinese foreign policy and Sino-Myanmar trade, including sensitive topics such as Myanmar's rare-earth mineral exports to China.