Rubio designates US citizen held in China as wrongfully detained as Trump prepares to host Xi at White House

The Trump administration has designated an American scholar detained in China as wrongfully held after he traveled there at Beijing’s invitation, escalating his case just weeks before President Donald Trump is set to host Chinese President Xi Jinping .

Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that U.S. citizen Min Zin is "wrongfully detained" after the State Department reviewed the circumstances of his June 3 detention in Yunnan, the State Department said Thursday.

Zin had traveled to China for an academic conference at the invitation of the Chinese government, according to the department.

PASTOR FREED FROM CHINESE PRISON AFTER TRUMP RAISED HIS CASE WITH XI JINPING He is now one of two U.S. citizens the State Department considers wrongfully detained in China.

The other is Dr.

Youlin Chen, a Chinese-born American seismologist from Boston.

"The safety and security of U.S. citizens is the State Department’s top priority," Assistant Secretary Dylan Johnson said in a statement.

"We will continue to advocate for Mr.

Zin and call for the release of all U.S. citizens who are arbitrarily detained or exit banned in China." Zin was detained at the airport after arriving in China and has been repeatedly interrogated and held in isolation during nearly 11 weeks in custody, a senior State Department official told Reuters.

DAUGHTER OF DETAINED CHINESE PASTOR SAYS SHE HAS 'HOPE' AFTER LEARNING TRUMP MAY RAISE CASE WITH XI JINPING "One minute his colleagues and family were engaging with him on the phone – exchanging updates on his arrival time and plans in China – and the next minute communication was lost," the official said.

For the next 48 hours, his family and colleagues did not know where he was, whether he was alive or who had taken him, according to the official.

Authorities in Yunnan later told the U.S.

Embassy that Zin was under criminal investigation for allegedly endangering China’s national security, Reuters reported.

China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Zin’s arrest in June and said he was suspected of spying and endangering national security, the report said.