Chinese Embassy rebukes US for harassing Chinese citizens
▶ ‘Acts ideologically biased, disturb normal cross-border travel’
The Chinese Embassy in the US lashed out at the US for overstretching the scope of normal law enforcement after a number of Chinese citizens have been subject to hours of interrogation in a “small black room” when entering or leaving the US.
Observers said that the duplicitous nature of Biden administration will stoke up distrust, further foster hostility among the people of the two countries and derail the commitment of the two leaders to advance bilateral relations. They urged the US to heed the “kind reminder” from China and alter their operational behavior to avoid irreversible harm to people-to-people exchanges.
Quoting data, a spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the US said in a statement that nearly 300 Chinese citizens have been deported by the US since July 2021, including more than 70 Chinese students with legal and valid materials. Since November 2023, at Washington
Dulles Airport alone, there have been 10 cases of Chinese students being harassed, interrogated and, after having their visas canceled, deported.
The spokesperson listed two cases of Chinese scholars with legal visas being harassed during their entry to the US border, each of them being interrogated for an exceptionally long 10 hours and being detained for 22 hours respectively. After these abnormal interrogations in the “small black room,” both were deported after their visas were canceled.
The spokesperson also slammed that the US’ actions run against the common understandings reached by the two Presidents on enhancing and facilitating China-US cultural and people-to-people exchanges. China is gravely concerned and firmly opposes such moves, and has made solemn démarches to the US, the spokesperson said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Monday also slammed the US for overstretching the concept of national security, arbitrarily revoking visas, restricting entry, and forcibly deporting Chinese students without concrete evidence, causing great harm to the individuals involved and creating obstacles for cultural and people-to-people exchanges between China and the US.
Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that despite the agreement between the two heads of state to promote people-to-people exchanges at their meeting in San Francisco last November and the recent phone call reaffirming stable ties, there is still a lack of visible restraint from the US in the actions it is taking. “It indicates a duplicitous nature within the Biden administration.”
Observers view the statement issued by the Chinese Embassy in the US as a “kind reminder” to the US, and said that hopefully the US will alter its unjustifiable harassment and interrogation of Chinese citizens, and will not further undermine the environment of public support for China-US relations.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida landed in Washington on Monday local time for a state visit to the US. Since Kishida is the first Japanese leader to visit Washington as a state guest since then-prime minister Shinzo Abe’s visit nine years ago, both Japan and the US attach great importance to Kishida’s visit. The Japanese side has been making noise about this visit for some time, while the American side has arranged high-profile receptions such as a White House dinner and a speech to Congress for Kishida.
For this visit, it is clear that the US and Japan have some common “strategic considerations.” For example, both sides may see it as a “ceremonial show” to further enhance their warming “honeymoon relationship,” hoping to demonstrate the US-Japan alliance is “unbreakable” by elevating their bilateral relationship to a “global partnership” status.
The current leaders of the US and Japan have their own respective goals. The Kishida administration is currently mired in a governance crisis, and this visit is a “life-saving straw” to demonstrate diplomatic achievements in order to regain domestic support. On the Washington side, as concerns among allies rise about the risks posed by the US election, President Joe Biden wants to reaffirm security commitments to allies through Kishida’s visit, at least to reassure them, and to seek support from the American people by reshaping the alliance system.
Unsurprisingly, the interpretation from the outside world almost unanimously points to China when touching upon Kishida’s visit to the US. The Financial Times revealed two weeks ago that the US and Japan are planning the biggest upgrade to their security alliance since they signed a mutual defense treaty in 1960 in a move to counter China. The two countries’ militaries will “cooperate and plan more seamlessly, particularly in a crisis such as a Taiwan conflict,” the report reads.
Furthermore, the first trilateral summit between the US, Japan and the Philippines to be held after Kishida’s meeting with Biden is also seen as Washington and Tokyo’s move to back Manila against China.
In the strategic layout of the US to contain and suppress China, Japan’s performance can no longer be described as “following suit,” but rather as actively taking on a leading role. Whether it is small multilateral military security cooperation among the US, Japan and South Korea, or among the US, Japan and the Philippines, or the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, Chips Alliance, “small yard, high fence” strategy, or the process of promoting “NATO’s Asia-Pacificization” … In which of these areas has Japan not played a “core wingman” role? In some issues, Japan is even pushing the US forward.
Facing the global mess, the US naturally welcomes Japan’s performance, which goes beyond its expectation, while also granting Japan greater military autonomy as a “reward,” by enhancing the position of the US-Japan alliance. Some people in Japan are therefore delighted, believing that this signifies the US-Japan alliance is moving toward “equality” and is evidence of Japan’s status as a major power.
However, the satisfaction brought by this “hallucinogen” can be easily shattered. The contradictions and entanglements in Japan’s foreign strategic thinking are being revealed. Driven by ideological bias and geopolitical competition, Japanese leaders and media attribute the security pressures and development challenges faced by Japan to China’s growing strength, and repeatedly hype up the “China threat” in hopes of strengthening strategic ties with the US, promoting a strategy of containment against China, and seeking to “rely on the US to restrain China.” At the same time, Japan feels uneasy about potential future strategic retrenchment and isolationism by the US. It seeks to leverage international changes to break free from post-war constraints, enhance its independent defense capabilities, and demonstrate ambitions to become a political and military power.
Japan’s political calculations are meticulous, but wearying. Whether it’s the Ukraine crisis in distant Europe or the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Middle East, they have little direct relevance to Japan’s national security. As for Japanese leaders repeatedly voicing concerns about the “challenge to the rules-based, free and open international order,” it is just a cliché to maintain US unipolar hegemony. It serves as a feeble excuse for the Kishida government to push forward its agenda of military expansion, appearing weak and pale.
In plain terms, under the obsession with great power competition among some in the US and Japan, the “upgrading” of the US-Japan alliance merely further strengthens Japan’s role as a tool for containing China. Actually, this not only results in self-diminishment but also entails significant dangers, potentially leading to greater instability and confrontation in the Asia-Pacific region and even the world. Regarding the seemingly glorious Kishida visit to the US, insightful individuals within Japan should recognize the hidden risks and concerns lurking behind it.