Tag: Diplomatic Service, Embassies and Consulates

Beijing Protests After New Zealand Minister Insults Chinese-Born Lawmaker

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China has lodged a formal protest after New Zealand’s top diplomat told a Chinese-born lawmaker to “go back to your own country,” a comment that has also prompted calls at home for the minister’s dismissal. The foreign minister Winston Peters, leader of the populist New Zealand First party and a longtime political kingmaker in New Zealand, made the remarks during a heated debate in the Parliament in Wellington on Wednesday in a retort to Lawrence Xu-Nan, a Green Party lawmaker whose family had immigrated when he was a child. Responding…

Australia Tried to Push Back on China. China Pushed Harder.

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Since resuscitating relations with China from a low point a few years ago, the Australian government has relied on an oft-repeated mantra to “cooperate where we can, disagree where we must.” Some of those disagreements came into view this week as Chinese diplomats pushed back against an Australian intelligence assessment and Canberra’s security-deal making in the Pacific, accusing the country of stoking paranoia and unfairly targeting China. In one of the public skirmishes, China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, responded to an annual threat assessment speech given by Australia’s top…

Asian American Officials Cite Unfair Scrutiny and Lost Jobs in China Spy Tensions

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When Thomas Wong set foot in the United States Embassy in Beijing this summer for a new diplomatic posting, it was vindication after years of battling the State Department over a perceived intelligence threat — himself. Diplomatic Security officers had informed him when he joined the foreign service more than a decade ago that they were banning him from working in China. In a letter, he said, they wrongly cited the vague potential for undue “foreign preference” and suggested he could be vulnerable to “foreign influence.” Mr. Wong had become…

Kissinger Kept Busy as a Diplomat Long After Leaving State Department

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When Henry Kissinger turned 100 this year, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken toasted him at one birthday celebration in New York, and the C.I.A. director, William J. Burns, did so at another in Washington. There was a reason: Kissinger managed to retain his role as adviser to Washington’s key policymakers a half century after he left office, oftentimes because what he did then was so relevant to the crises of today. Mr. Kissinger spoke with Mr. Blinken regularly, including as recently as last month, Mr. Blinken said. He had…

Biden Found Even Modest Israel-Palestinian Peace Steps Impossible

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Some U.S. officials believe that, as a practical matter, Mr. Biden could reopen the office over Israeli objections. Pressed on the consulate’s fate in February, the State Department spokesman at the time, Ned Price, said: “These things take time. Obviously there are various parties that are involved in a process like this.” Daniel C. Kurtzer, a former U.S. ambassador to Jerusalem in the George W. Bush administration, called the years before Oct. 7 a missed opportunity. “The question can be asked, ‘Why didn’t Biden act to undo what Trump had…

Police Fatally Shoot Driver Who Crashed Into Chinese Consulate in San Francisco

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The police fatally shot a driver who crashed into the visa office at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco on Monday afternoon, the San Francisco Police Department said. Officers responded to the crash near Geary Boulevard and Laguna Street around 3 p.m., where they “found that the vehicle had come to rest in the lobby of the Chinese Consulate,” according to a statement from the San Francisco Police Department. The shooting took place after the officers made contact with the suspect, the police said. Officers and paramedics who arrived at…

Qin Gang, China’s Foreign Minister, Is Replaced

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Mr. Qin, 57, was appointed China’s ambassador to Washington in July 2021, and 17 months later was promoted to foreign minister, singling him out as a trusted protégé of Mr. Xi. Earlier, Mr. Qin had served as a foreign ministry spokesman, a diplomat in London and as a protocol officer, a job that brought him close to Mr. Xi during foreign visits. Mr. Qin graduated from the University of International Relations, a school in Beijing linked to China’s security service, and worked as an assistant in the Beijing bureau of…

Russia Denounces West Over Drone Strike on Moscow

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A day after a drone strike on Moscow, Kremlin officials jumped on the refusal of Ukrainian allies to denounce the attack as proof that Russia’s real war was with the West. The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said Russia “would have preferred to hear at least some words of condemnation” from Western capitals. “We will calmly and deliberately think how to deal with this,” he said. While none of Ukraine’s allies went so far as to endorse the drone attack, Britain’s foreign secretary said on Tuesday that Kyiv had “the…

Canada Expelling Chinese Diplomat Amid Influence Concerns

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Canada said on Monday it was expelling a Chinese diplomat amid reports he had been intimidating and gathering information on a Canadian lawmaker who had been critical of Beijing’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority, a decision likely to increase tensions between Beijing and Ottawa. Mélanie Joly, Canada’s foreign minister, said in a statement that the diplomat, Zhao Wei, had been declared “persona non grata.” Ms. Joly said the decision has been taken “after careful consideration of all factors at play.” “Diplomats in Canada have been warned that if they…

China’s Foreign Minister Meets U.S. Envoy and Urges Washington to Reflect

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China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, met with the American ambassador to China in Beijing on Monday in a possible hint at a thaw in relations between the two powers after months of growing tension. Mr. Qin told the ambassador, Nicholas Burns, that a “top priority” was to stabilize relations, “avoid a downward spiral, and prevent accidents between China and the United States,” according to China’s official readout of the meeting. The meeting marked one of the highest-level engagements between American and Chinese officials since relations soured in February following the appearance,…