China said Friday it was holding an American citizen accused of espionage, identifying the man as a political analyst at a policy think tank focusing on neighbouring Myanmar.

Min Zin — a founder of the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar (ISP-M) — “has been subjected to criminal compulsory measures”, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news briefing.

Authorities are holding him “on suspicion of engaging in espionage activities that endanger China’s national security”, he said, without providing further details.

The ISP-M researches the political, resource and conflict dynamics of Myanmar, which was plunged into civil war by a 2021 coup.

Some of their publications detail China’s influence in the borderlands of Myanmar, where Beijing is accused of supporting armed factions which suit its national interests.

It is not clear whether Min Zin was conducting research at the time he was held by Chinese authorities.

A person with professional ties to ISP-M, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, told AFP Min Zin was arrested on June 3 at Kunming airport in Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar.

“He went there to attend a meeting,” said another person with a close relationship to the detained academic, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

Chinese authorities said the US consulate in Guangzhou had been notified of the case.

“His family and colleagues are following up with the consulate office there,” the second source said. “I know his family is worried.”

Neither the US State Department nor the ISP-M have responded to a request for comment.

The ISP-M is based in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, a hub for political exiles from Myanmar since the coup ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Analysts, including those at the ISP-M, say China has intermittently backed both the military and rebels in the civil war according to its varying economic and security interests.

China said on Monday that strengthening its military is beneficial to world peace, slamming a think tank report that warned the threat of a direct strike by Beijing on Australia was increasing.

A Lowy Institute report said on Sunday that China is capable of a direct missile strike on Australia and the threat of such a move is growing as Beijing amasses long-range and hypersonic weapons and builds islands in the South China Sea.

China’s capacity to strike Australia would grow over the next decade as “the DF-27 intermediate-range ballistic missile, and potentially a conventionally armed intercontinental ballistic missile, grow in service numbers”, the Sydney-based group said.

China condemned the report’s “serious strategic misjudgement” on Monday, saying it was committed to “a path of peaceful development”.

“The growth of China’s military strength represents an increase in the forces for world peace,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters at a news briefing.

“China’s development of military strength is intended to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests and is not directed at any specific country,” he added.

The report found the main threat to Australia was from Chinese missiles fired from ships, submarines and a new intermediate-range ballistic missile that could reach the island continent from China.

The DF-27 missile has a range of 5,000 to 8,000 kilometres (3,100 to 5,000 miles), the US military said in December.

The report said it was assessing Beijing’s capability and not its intentions.

Lin urged the “relevant institutions” on Monday to “stop hyping up the so-called China threat” and to view the country’s development in an objective, fair and rational manner.

Australia reshaped its military strategy three years ago in response to China’s rapid navy build-up and rising friction between Beijing and Washington, focusing on deterring an adversary from its northern approaches.

China accused Japan’s defence minister on Monday of spreading “baseless” claims and sowing confusion, a day after he took a veiled swipe at Beijing.

Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi had pledged on Sunday to keep strengthening Japan’s military and warned China was expanding its capabilities without sufficient transparency.

His comments follow a months-long diplomatic spat between the Asian rivals, which began when Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily if China attempted to seize Taiwan, the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing.

China’s foreign ministry said on Monday that Koizumi’s comments  were “entirely baseless”.

“They appear pale and feeble in the face of a series of historical and legal facts and figures,” ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news briefing.

“This Japanese official deliberately… attempts to turn the tables and sow confusion,” Lin said.

“Japan’s so-called dialogue is nothing but hypocrisy — a performance put on for appearances, devoid of any genuine sincerity,” he added.

Under Takaichi, Japan has quickened its pivot towards a more proactive defence policy, further shaking off — with US encouragement — a pacifist outlook, which has been in place since the end of World War II.

Koizumi made his comments at the annual IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, saying China’s expanding military capabilities were “a matter of serious concern for Japan”.

Tokyo would “steadily build up its defence capabilities and make continuous updates with a high degree of transparency”, including in the fields of artificial intelligence, uncrewed systems as well as cyber and space defence, he said.

Beijing has frequently rebuked Tokyo for its pivot and said following a reckless policy of “new militarism” that could destabilise the region.

China warned the European Union on Wednesday against sanctioning its companies, after Brussels proposed a fresh wave of measures over Beijing’s support for Russia in its war with Ukraine.

The EU’s latest round of sanctions since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine seeks, among other aims, to complicate commercial activities by companies in third countries that allegedly support the Russian military.

The 27-member bloc has previously implemented measures targeting Chinese firms for their alleged support for Russia’s military industrial complex.

The sanctions must be debated and unanimously approved by the EU’s 27 member states to come into force.

Officials told AFP the measures include adding 14 companies from mainland China and Hong Kong to a list of firms banned from buying EU goods.

Asked about the proposed sanctions, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said that Beijing “has always firmly opposed illegal unilateral sanctions that lack basis in international law”.

“China has several times lodged serious representations with the European side, urging it to correct its wrong practices,” Lin told a regular news conference.

He warned that China will “closely follow” developments and “take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests”, without providing further detail.

Particularly sensitive is Moscow’s drone technology, which has played a crucial role in the Russia-Ukraine war — now in its fifth year.

Chinese firms dominate the global market for civilian drones, though a grey area for some products with potential military uses presents hurdles for enforcement of export controls.

Beijing presents itself as a neutral party in the Ukraine war and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on social media Tuesday that “brick by brick, we are collapsing the foundations of Russia’s war economy”.

The latest package marks “the largest set of listings in over two years… notably on the financial sector, energy and drones’ production”, she wrote.

By Montira Rungjirajittranon

Two Chinese Uyghur men were sentenced to death Thursday for carrying out a 2015 attack on a Bangkok shrine that killed 20 people, a long-awaited verdict in Thailand’s deadliest bombing case.

A Bangkok court convicted Yusufu Mieraili and Bilal Mohammed of premeditated and attempted murder for their role in planting a bomb at the popular Erawan Shrine in the capital’s commercial heart.

The blast tore apart the site where worshippers and tourists had gathered, wounding more than 100 people and leaving the shrine to the Thai representation of Brahma littered with motorbike fragments and singed debris.

Seven Chinese tourists were among the fatalities when explosives — apparently left in a backpack — detonated.

“The defendants committed a single act that violated multiple laws. The court therefore imposed the harshest penalty available under the law, the death sentence,” one member of the four-judge panel said Thursday as the lengthy verdict was read out.

The defendants — both Chinese nationals who arrived in court in prison garb — were acquitted of charges stemming from a separate bombing at a Bangkok pier.

Following the verdict, Mieraili said: “RIP Thailand’s justice system. I don’t accept any of this. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Choochat Kanpai, the defendants’ lawyer, told reporters they “will appeal the ruling because there are many aspects of the case that the court has not fully considered, including the treatment of the defendants during the proceedings”.

The decade-long trial was beset by delays due to coronavirus disruptions and problems securing translators.

The blast came weeks after Thailand’s then-ruling junta forcibly repatriated 109 Uyghurs to China, prompting speculation that it was part of a revenge plot.

Beijing welcomed the death sentences.

“The attackers were totally inhumane and extremely heinous,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters.

“China supports Thailand in conducting the trial in accordance with the law and severely punishing the murderers.”

Delays and drugs

Shortly after the bombing, police named 17 suspects, but only Mieraili and Mohammed were initially apprehended.

Thailand’s junta authorities were criticised for a murky investigation that appeared to wind down shortly after the arrest of the two men.

They went on trial in 2016, accused of planting the explosives.

But the proceedings — which have involved hundreds of witness testimonies — have been delayed multiple times, once because the translator for the accused was hit with drugs charges.

In 2017 a Thai woman called Wanna Suansan was detained on arrival in Bangkok on a warrant linked to the shrine blast — making her the third named suspect arrested by police.

She was charged with attempted murder, associated murder and possession of bombs and weapons, but was acquitted in 2024.

The Uyghurs, a Turkic minority, primarily hail from China’s westernmost region, Xinjiang.

Beijing has been accused of detaining more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims since 2017, part of a campaign that the United Nations previously said could constitute crimes against humanity.

China vehemently denies these allegations, saying its policies have rooted out extremism in Xinjiang and boosted economic development.

Thailand deported dozens of Uyghurs to China in February 2025 despite warnings from human rights groups that they would face persecution on their return, drawing swift condemnation from the United Nations.

The Erawan Shrine remains a popular draw for Chinese and other tourists to the Thai capital, and dozens of visitors made traditional offerings of marigold garlands and incense as usual on Thursday.

Devotee and online vendor Satiwan Phobangwai, 45, approved of the sentences.

“As a Buddhist, I was taught to only do good deeds and good things, right? It’s like karma, as the saying goes, ‘you reap what you sow,'” she said.

“So they must face the consequences of the wrongdoing they committed.”