Nicholas Burns, the American ambassador to China, is accusing the country of undermining democracy, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Burns told the Journal China is intimidating citizens who attend U.S.-organized events in China, restricting the embassy’s social media posts and encouraging anti-American sentiment.
“They say they’re in favor of reconnecting our two populations, but they’re taking dramatic steps to make it impossible,” Burns told the Journal.
Burns said there are 61 public events the embassy held in which the Chinese government encouraged citizens not to attend. Those who have attended have been interrogated by officials, often at home late at night, according to the Journal.
China has also made it harder to Chinese students to attend American universities, Burns told the Journal.
“What they tell us and what they tell the world is they want people-to-people engagement, and yet this is not just episodic. This is routine. This is nearly every public event,” Burns said. “This is a serious breach, and we hope [China] will reconsider.”
Burns’ comments come after the U.S. and China attempted to improve relations, culminating in a November summit in San Francisco between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin have met with officials in Beijing and China has sent pandas to zoos in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and San Diego.
China has complained that the U.S. has restricted the movements of diplomats and that Chinese students have been subjected to racism and discrimination, the Journal said. The U.S. issued 105,000 student visas to Chinese citizens in 2023, the highest total since before the pandemic, Burns said.
The U.S. has not been allowed to hire any Chinese employees for three years, Burns said. The Chinese government has also been tightlipped about an incident earlier this month where a 55-year-old Chinese man stabbed four Iowa college instructors in northeast China, Burns said.
China has continued to censor the U.S. Embassy’s social media accounts on Chinese platforms, Burns told the Journal.
“We’ve had innumerable conversations with the government of China about this and nothing has changed, and nothing gets fixed,” Burns said.