The wife of Youlin Chen, a US seismologist detained in China, said 
Donald Trump will ask 
Xi Jinping to free her husband when the two leaders meet in Washington this week. Yufang Rong said the White House gave her that assurance at a Tuesday meeting with officials from the State Department and National Security Council, Korea Times reported. Trump will welcome Xi on Wednesday for their second meeting since May.
What else was she told? Chen, 54, is one of two Americans held by Beijing whom Washington has designated as "wrongfully detained." Rong said she was told Trump would also press for the release of the other, Min Zin, a scholar arrested in June. Trump raised Chen's case with Xi in Beijing in May, but it produced no action, she said. "Resolving the wrongful detentions of U.S. citizens is always a top priority for the president," a senior US official said on condition of anonymity.
What is known about the case? Chinese state security officers arrested him at Beijing International Airport on November 5, 2024, as he prepared to fly home after visiting family and lecturing at two universities, Korea Times reported. His work for a US government contractor, detecting shockwaves from North Korean underground nuclear tests, has been openly funded by the State Department and the US Air Force Research Laboratory. Rong said she feared Beijing planned to try him on fabricated espionage charges, even though his research was openly published, used publicly available data and was done with Chinese scientists. She believes China wants his expertise to improve its ability to conceal nuclear tests through decoupling, in which a device is detonated inside a large underground chamber to reduce the shockwaves.
How has Beijing responded? The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond. In July, the foreign ministry said the country's judiciary deals with cases according to the law "and there is no so-called wrongful detention."
How is he being held? Rong said her husband had been interrogated more than 100 times and had received substandard medical care and food; he suffered from high blood pressure and diabetes. US embassy officials had been allowed to visit him for about 30 minutes once a month, always in the presence of Chinese officials, Rong said. They read out letters she had written to him and he dictated his replies. Asked what she would tell him, she said: "Be strong. Be optimistic. There are a lot of people helping you. You will come back for sure."
Figures referenced: Donald Trump, Xi Jinping. — JudgeMarket.
