An American seismologist whose career focused in part on analyzing North Korean nuclear tests has been detained in China for years and is expected to face a court on espionage allegations, according to his wife and supporters.
Youlin Chen, 54, was taken into custody by Chinese authorities on Nov. 5, 2024, at Beijing International Airport as he tried to return to Boston after visiting relatives and delivering seismology lectures.
Chinese officials later formally accused him of espionage on Mar. 1, 2025.
Although Chen was born in China, he became a US citizen in 2011. His wife, Yufang Rong, and a group of advocates told Reuters that he is being wrongfully held in a country that is no longer his own, with a looming trial on spying charges.
“I believe they will convict him no matter what and the trial will be behind closed doors,” Rong told the outlet.
US embassy representatives have been able to meet with Chen, but Rong said Chinese officials remain in the room during those visits, making it impossible for him to speak openly.
Rong and Chen’s supporters argue that his detention stems from his work as a seismologist, a field that examines earthquakes and other seismic activity moving through the Earth.
According to his family and advocates, Chen’s research into covert North Korean nuclear tests appears to have attracted the scrutiny of Chinese authorities.
They cite a December 2020 paper Chen published – written while he was a US government contractor for the State Department – using open-source data available in China to examine the earth-shaking differences between earthquakes and secret underground nuclear weapons being tested by China’s ally North Korea.
Human rights orgs said that they’re worried that part of China’s prosecution of Chen may involve the use of a law that retroactively criminalizes the use of what was once publicly available data.
Chen has been interrogated nearly one hundred times for his seismological research, his wife said.
Eric Lebson, who leads the hostage advocacy organization Global Reach and is advising Chen’s family, suggested that Chinese authorities may be particularly interested in using Chen’s knowledge in learning how to better hide the seismic signs of their own nuclear tests.
China allegedly carried out an underground nuclear test in 2020, which was quickly caught by American authorities and caused a strain on already fraught relations with the US.
Chen’s case has caught the attention of higher-ups in the Trump administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who declared Chen as “wrongfully detained.”
Chen’s wife Rong has also said that the Trump administration is engaging in sub rosa talks with the Chinese government to release Chen, having brought up the matter with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
But the Trump administration has not publicly commented about the supposed talks, and a US source told Reuters they couldn’t confirm Trump had broached the matter with Xi.
But another US source also told the outlet they’re “focused on gaining his release from [Chen’s] unjustifiable detention.”
Chinese authorities have also pushed back the claim that Chen’s detention is “unjust.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian has said “there is no so-called wrongful detention,” and that the matter is handled according to the law.
But as the matter is hashed out by American and Chinese diplomats, Chen continues to sit in prison in “harsh conditions,” according to his wife.
Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, who first brought the plight of Chen to Secretary Rubio’s attention, told Reuters he’s “deeply concerned” about Chen’s well-being.
“It is my hope that increased attention on his unjust detention will force the Chinese government to do the right thing and release Dr. Chen,” Markey told the outlet in a statement.
