*BEIJING: *
China will deliver “a proper and necessary” response to new curbs by theState Department on its envoys to the United States, the foreign ministrysaid Thursday.
America’s top diplomat Mike Pompeo introduced the restrictions onWednesday, including mandating Chinese diplomats to seek approval to visituniversities or meet with local officials.
He said the measures were a counterpoint to long-established controlsimposed on US diplomats in China.
American envoys have to ask permission from authorities to meet withofficials, conduct outreach or even visit universities.
A US Embassy spokesman in Beijing said permission is “routinely denied”, orcancelled at the last minute.
Unapproved travel to Tibet is also off-limits.
The two countries are locked in a rancourous power struggle over trade,security and tech, while relations have been further poisoned by thecoronavirus and rights issues from Hong Kong to the Uighur minority inXinjiang.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson in Beijing on Thursday warned of “aproper and necessary response” to the ramped-up restrictions on its envoys.
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The curbs on Chinese diplomats are “a serious violation of theinternational law and the basic norms of international relations”, HuaChunying told reporters.
Pompeo’s latest measures mean China’s diplomats in the US will also have toseek approval for any cultural event outside embassy or consulateproperties involving more than 50 people.
Additionally, embassy social media accounts will have to be identified asaccounts of the Chinese government.
The US Embassy spokesman told AFP the US was not mirroring “every aspect ofChina’s severe constraints”.
Still, the moves will likely dial up diplomatic hostilities between thenations.
In July the US ordered the Chinese consulate in Houston to close, promptingBeijing to shutter the American mission in Chengdu. -APP/AFP
