For more than two years, Youlin Chen, an American seismologist of Chinese descent, has been detained by the government of the People's Republic. This is the only case of a US citizen designated by the United States as having been wrongfully detained by China. His wife, Yufang Rong, has been fighting for his release throughout this time, even appealing to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump, who currently enjoys a close relationship with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. However, there has still been no progress on this front.
In an interview with Reuters, Rong expressed concern that Beijing had decided, even before putting Chen on trial, to declare him guilty of espionage, an offence which in China carries a potential sentence of up to life imprisonment or even the death penalty for cases deemed particularly serious. She also suggests that China may be attempting to capitalise on her husband's knowledge and expertise to improve its system for concealing nuclear tests. In 2020, Washington accused Beijing of conducting an underground nuclear test and attempting to cover it up. China, which, like the United States, signed but did not ratify the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, denies having carried out the test.
Dr Chen's case remains one of the most awkward sticking points in the increasingly friendly relationship between the United States and China, but neither the detainee's family nor human rights organisations believe the case will be resolved any time soon.