American Scholar Minshin "Illegally Detained", Wife Rescues: We Wait for You to Come Home

Voice of America interviewed the wife of American scholar Kai Li, who is being illegally detained by the Chinese government. She discussed the circumstances of his detention after traveling to China, the progress made in the U.S. State Department's designation of his case as "wrongfully detained," and her appeal alongside her daughter at a congressional hearing in Washington, expressing the family's hope for his safe and early return home.

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Welcome to VOA, Sylvia. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us. I know you make all the way from Chiang Mai, right? So could you please tell us what you have done and what you plan to do to help Mingxin during your stay in D.C.? Well, my main job is to advocate for his behalf. So I've done a congressional hearing yesterday and then I will just be doing more interviews and getting his case, you know, more public and until I leave.

So, yesterday, on the congressional hearing, you made the direct plea to President Trump. If you ever got a chance to talk to him, what would you say to him? I just want to say thank you for the wrongful determination so far, but unfortunately, the work is not done until my husband is at home, so I hope he can handle the final arrangements and wait for him to come home.

We know that the State Department just formally designated Min Xin as wrongfully detained by China. What was your first reaction when you heard the news? I've known from the beginning that he was wrongfully detained. He's not doing anything that he's not supposed to. He's a researcher, he is an academic. He went to China because he was invited to go. He had proper visas, everything is above board. So I already knew it was wrongfully detained, for the U.S. government to recognize that and to have that formal determination that's really helpful for me and my daughter.

at the end of August I did an interview with Min Xin's brother Aung Mao Xin and he told me that on August 12th the U.S. officers got a chance to visit Min Xin and talk to him briefly for like 15 minutes. So since then is there any like new developments on his case? The counselors have a next visit on September 15th, so that's going to be the 4th visit. And he is in good spirits, he is worried about us, me and my daughter, and he is trying to exercise, he's trying to keep healthy, and he can't wait to come home.

I heard he is like detained by himself. Aung Mao Xin told me that he's very strong. So what's your biggest concern for him? Physical health. I just want him to come home strong and not have any health issues.

Okay, so let's talk about some June 3rd situation. So he left for airport. Did you take him to the airport? I did not. He went himself. Did you say anything to him or did he say anything to you before? That was he concerned about the trip? It was a very routine trip, you know, he was invited everywhere, you know, he goes on these trips all the time. I don't even know that I came home to say goodbye to him. I think I just left with my daughter to drop her off at school. I just went on with my day, you know, so there was nothing significant or that stood out about this trip.

So when he landed he sent you and also texted his co-worker. Yes, and also yeah. And so you think everything is okay, right? Yeah. And when did you realize that he went missing? He had been missing for six hours that night, and his company also called me. They asked, "Have you heard from him?" Both of us heard from him; we were in the car, in the car, and we thought we could go check on him there, and we also thought he might have been in contact. It was already September 3rd. So we knew he wasn't a passenger; we knew he was already on his journey as a passenger, so we knew something was wrong.

Then on June 4th, I dropped my daughter off at school, actually I was at school studying, and I called the U.S. consulate in Chiang Mai and in Guangzhou. There was no formal notification yet at that time, but the formal notification came on June 5th.

During this three months it must be very hard on you and on your daughter. Is there any like particular moment like you feel like very difficult, but you still have to hang on and still have to fight? I think the tide has turned. I think my focus kind of shifted on, okay, it could be a long term, and what are we going to do, and what am I going to do? I think I'm doing here is what I need to do. I need to speak on his behalf, I need to advocate for him, and until he comes home.

So could you tell us about Mingxing's work? Because the Chinese government arrested him, are they cooperating with you? No, he is a researcher, he is a researcher, his research, his research, is about research materials, research and study, it is all public. They put it on the website, and it's accessible publicly by anybody, so he's not doing anything that is not supposed to, there's nothing behind the scene for him, it's very transparent. Did he talk to you about his work?

only husband and wife work, I mean, what we would talk about, what meetings he did, but nothing in detail. Yesterday I spent the whole day doing research with Professor Andrew Nathan, he is a university research scientist, he decided on a research paper, became Scholars-at-Risk, inviting the Chinese government to stop the public sentiment. I told him, he said, we don't know why the Chinese government is stopping the public sentiment. One theory is that they did so at the request of the Myanmar government. Because Mian camino has been as effective critics of that regime. Do you think that wuyet be the reason? I am not the right person for that, I don't know anything about politics or policies, or what each government, you know, the Burmese government's relationship with the Chinese government, I don't know anything about that, I'm a stay-at-home mom, so I wouldn't know about those issues. The star's younger brother said the star really likes all the opportunities to discuss with Chinese friends, because he believes the more they talk about this matter, the more they can resolve this matter. Do you know about this matter, his work, regarding the issues in Burma, he was in '14, he was in '14, he was in '14, he was in '14, he was in '14, he was in '15, he was in '20, he was in '14, his interest in China is because he is a strong friend of the pot in China, he is interested in the horse, he is interested in, so he discussed going to China in the West, had to talk with other scholars, he visited some banquets, because he believes he is in this process, he believes this is our direction, he in 2018 he had a 10-year history, 2018, 2017, something like that, OK, and it's a 10-year history, Yes.

How many times have he visited China since then? I know he went right after he got the visa, so maybe like 2017, 2018, and then after that, because of COVID, maybe he hasn't gone in a while, but he went uh in october of 2025 to Shanghai that was the last time before this one and so several times yeah, but every time it's like he came back safely right, yes. So you don't really think about like this trip, not at all, not at all, so you don't uh you don't really you didn't really concerned like every time when he goes to China, oh no, he's a very safe person, you know, so I trust his understanding at home, I believe he did everything at home, did everything, indeed he ensured safety at home, he ensured safety at home, so I didn't think about him, he did some things at home, so we didn't think about him, he did very dangerous things at home, so you didn't mention him, he was in March.

How do you talk to him, to your daughter? I gave her all the facts. She's 14 so she's not a little kid anymore, so I can share like some of the facts with her, and she knows what's what's going on, and she's here in DC with me, and she was at the hearing yesterday. Yeah, I saw you post the card on the museum's birthday September 9th, I know every year you will celebrate the birthday together right and this year is like celebration without him so how did you celebrate for him this year? I went to the monastery earlier that day because we are Buddhists and we went to the monastery offering some food on his behalf. I actually get to go home to pack because I was flying out that day, I flew out that evening actually to come here so i picked her i picked up my daughter from school, we had a little cupcake for him and she ate it and then we we went to the airport. Okay, that's great, yeah, i saw the picture of the cupcake, yeah, so I learned from a report back in the 2009 and saying that sue's name is from um angsen shuchi is that correct, yeah, she's namedShe was in her studio, she once shared a deep studio experience in 1988, she was once a high school student, she was once in the same studio, she was once in the same studio, she knew she was captured by the Chinese government, I'm not sure she knew, I had no contact with her.

I would like to talk about some of your personal story, I know that you met Missy when he was in Berkeley, Could you please share with us how you get to know each other and fell into love and eventually got married? I met him through a mutual friend of my mom, and he was actually telling me a story or telling us the story about um behind the scenes he was a journalist at erwoody at that time erwoody magazine and he was doing a um interview for one of his stories and i think that really fascinated me, uh but what what kind of the story is that do you Do you remember? Yes, it was his story about the movement near Shangren, from Burma to Thailand to Taiwan, and he was just telling me about the research and studies and research he was doing, so what is his personality that you like the most, he would be great I say this, but I think he is very interesting. I think that's what attracted me to him the most he can you know he he had I guess a hard life so far you know with with fleeing Burma but throughout all of his life he kept his humor, and I think that's what's attractive for me. So we know that he made a history in UC Berkeley's general learning login method, which is stopping class studies, I knew it, he said he had to find other languages, oh, my, you know, so from there, to there, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, he knew it, so he self-studied English yes.

How is Sue doing? Is she okay? Ah, yes. I, you know, overall she's okay, I'm trying to keep her life as normal as possible, and she has to leave her school to come on this trip with me, you know, and so she's she's missing that over there, she has her band is supposed to perform in early October, so she wants to practice, you know, her. Her stage is that of an average girl. So we went to find her design, but she is an average 14-year-old girl. Regarding this three-month process, what do you think has happened to your life? Of course, we are a family of three. And our wolf makes us a family of four. So when one person leaves, it is very noticeable, right, and he is the dedicated talker of the family, you know. So, he comes home and he's you know telling me about his day, telling me what's going while going on, you know. So, all of that is very quiet these days. So, yes, of course, it is very noticeable. So, if you haven't talked to him for three months, what would you most like to tell him now? We love him, and we are waiting for him at home. Thank you for coming to V A to chat. Thank you for coming, thank you, thank you, thank you.