The US Embassy in Beijing (Credit: MARK RALSTON/AFP/GettyImages)
[See China October 1, 2022 News]TwoRepublican CongressmanRequireState Departmentsave with a dozenAmerican diplomatexistChina Covid-19 quarantineDistrict wasimprisoneddocuments because they are concernedBeijingThey may be forced to hand over information.
According to a letter obtained by Bloomberg on September 29, U.S. Representatives Comer and McCaul sent a letter to Secretary of State Blinken expressing concerns that restrictions on U.S. diplomats in China could raise national security issues. “We must ensure the protection of all Americans abroad, especially those with access to classified information, and end the dignified detention of U.S. diplomats,” the letter said.
Citing letters from whistleblowers and a Washington Post report, the two lawmakers said China “has engaged in an ongoing campaign to deprive American diplomats of their freedom under the guise of containing Covid-19.”
“U.S. embassy officials in Beijing recently confirmed that 16 U.S. diplomats and their families have been involuntarily held in isolation camps with severe restrictions and no clear release dates during the pandemic,” the letter reads. . “Republicans on the Rep. Foreign Affairs Committee are concerned that U.S. diplomats may or have been forced to turn over intelligence while in custody.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning denied allegations that U.S. diplomats were forced to hand over intelligence.
Back in June 2020, at the height of the coronavirus outbreak, U.S. diplomats who moved to China feared that Beijing would control their coronavirus testing and, in turn, possibly obtain DNA samples, and that they could be separated from their families. Diplomats have shared stories on social media of colleagues being held in quarantine hotels in China for more than two weeks.
The State Department later struck a deal with Beijing to minimize separation from loved ones and ensure Covid-19 testing is anonymous.
McCall and Comer are the top Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees, respectively. If Republicans win control of the House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections, the two will become committee chairs, and the letter suggests they may prioritize the investigation into the diplomat’s detention.
In a separate statement, McCall said Congress needed “more transparency from the State Department on the coronavirus restrictions imposed by U.S. diplomats in China.”
The Washington Post: US diplomats living in fear, several forced to evacuate China
“Washington Post” columnist Josh Rogin wrote an article in July, saying that the CCP has trampled on the rights of American diplomats unprecedentedly during the epidemic prevention process, which has caused American diplomats to live in fear.
The article said that if U.S. diplomats in China tested positive for the new crown in the past two years, or had close contact with an infected person, they would be forced to face the risk of being detained or separated from their families. Through the efforts of the new U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, U.S. diplomats and their families have been allowed to quarantine at home or at the embassy. The U.S. State Department sends a Chinese-language letter to every U.S. diplomat in China and their family members for submission to Chinese officials who may be forcibly admitted to a medical facility or separate children from their parents.
“If U.S. diplomats in China test positive and cannot convince the Chinese government to exempt them from quarantine at a fever clinic, the State Department will immediately evacuate them to another country. These measures appear to be working. Since Burns March 28 Since arriving in Beijing, no U.S. diplomats have been forcibly quarantined, but several have had to leave (China) this year,” the article reads.
Source: Watch China
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