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Senior Chinese diplomat warns of ‘disastrous consequences’ if US treats China as ‘enemy’
- Foreign Vice-Minister Le Yucheng also hits out at Washington over reports some Chinese-American scientists ‘have been treated unfairly’ in the US
- He tells World Peace Forum problems faced by America are not ‘China’s fault’
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A senior Chinese diplomat lashed out at the United States on Monday, saying it had imposed visa restrictions on academics from China and saw the country as “an enemy” – which he said could have “disastrous” consequences.
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Foreign Vice-Minister Le Yucheng said the problems faced by the US were not “China’s fault” and that Chinese people were finding it more difficult to engage in exchanges with their US counterparts.
There have been growing reports of Chinese academics and students facing difficulties in applying for US visas, and in some cases having their visas cancelled, while some researchers have been sacked by American employers in recent months.
“Hampering US-China people-to-people exchanges based on blood lineage and race is unpopular,” Le told the World Peace Forum at Tsinghua University in Beijing, which was attended by academics and diplomats.
His comment came after US President Donald Trump told China’s leader Xi Jinping that Chinese students were always welcome to study in America, when they met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, last month.
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