Washington– Washington (AFP) – The US State Department announced on Wednesday that it had fired an American diplomat over a romantic relationship he admitted to having with a Chinese woman who allegedly had ties to China. Communist Party of China.
The dismissal is believed to be the first of its kind for violating A Prohibition on such relationships Which was introduced late last year under the Biden administration.
The Associated Press reported earlier this year that in the final days of Democrat Joe Biden’s presidency, the State Department imposed a ban on all U.S. government employees in… ChinaAs well as family members and contractors with security clearances, they are free from any romantic or sexual relationships with Chinese citizens.
The diplomat in question was expelled from the Foreign Service after President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reviewed the case and determined that he “admitted to concealing a romantic relationship with a Chinese national with known ties to the Chinese Communist Party,” State Department spokesman Tommy Piggott said in a statement.
“Under Secretary Rubio’s leadership, we will maintain a zero-tolerance policy for any employee caught undermining our country’s national security,” Piggott said.
The statement did not identify the diplomat, but he and his girlfriend appeared in a surreptitiously filmed video posted online by James O’Keefe, the controversial conservative.
In Beijing, a Chinese government spokesman refused to comment on what he said was a local American issue. “But I would like to stress that we are opposed to drawing lines on the basis of ideological difference and maliciously distorting China’s image,” Guo Jiaqun of the Foreign Ministry said at a daily press conference.
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Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed to this report.