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CHINA-US-DIPLOMACY
US hopes China will ease restrictions on diplomats
BEIJING, Oct 21, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The United States hopes Beijing will
ease restrictions on meetings between US diplomats and local officials after
Washington imposed reciprocal measures against China, the US ambassador said
Monday.
Washington angered Beijing last week after it announced that Chinese
diplomats will now have to notify the State Department before meeting with
American officials.
In China, US diplomats have to get permission from several levels of the
Chinese government to meet local officials or academics, only to see such
requests often denied.
“Even if we get permission sometimes it can get cancelled at the last
minute. That’s been a frustration over a long period of time,” US ambassador
Terry Branstad said at a press briefing with a group of foreign journalists.
“We hope that the outcome (of the reciprocal measures) will be to get
better access for US diplomats here in China,” he said.
The US counter-measure comes as diplomatic tensions between China and the
United States have risen over a host of issues, including a protracted trade
war.
The US measure is a “very modest” step, Branstad said, noting that
Washington is only asking Chinese diplomats to notify the US government about
their meetings while their US counterparts in China must secure official
permission.
Branstad was himself denied access to Tibet twice before finally getting
permission to go in May.
But when he went to a coffee shop in Qinghai province on his way to Tibet,
officials told people inside not to talk to the diplomats, Branstad said,
recalling an example of the impediments US diplomats can face.
Branstad also cited the case of US consulate officials trying to meet
Chinese students in the southern city of Guangzhou.
The foreign ministry initially said no student applied for the meeting and
then said that none was available. The ministry later said students were “too
shy” to meet with US officials, Branstad said.
Asked whether the US was also mulling restrictions on Chinese journalists
in response to the difficulties foreign media face in China, Branstad said:
“I think there has been some discussion about Chinese that are working for
(Communist) Party-controlled entities and whether they should be treated as
foreign agents.”
Visa delays, detentions and suspected phone-bugging are among the
challenges faced by foreign journalists in China.
US law requires people who do publicity for foreign governments or parties
to register as foreign agents with the Justice Department and make periodic
public disclosures about their activities.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1334 hrs