China calls US 'pathetic' amid reports of visa ban on Communist party members
China has accused the Trump administration of being “very pathetic” amid reports that Washington is considering a sweeping visa ban on Communist party members.
Donald Trump is reportedly reviewing a proposal to refuse entry for all members of China’s ruling party – which encompasses a who’s who of the political and business elite in the world’s most populous nation.
Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state, asked about the reports on Fox News, said the administration was looking at “pushing back against the Chinese Communist party”.
“We want to make sure we do it in a way that reflects America’s tradition, and there are lots of ideas that are under review by the president and by our team,” he said, without commenting directly.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said of Trump at a briefing: “He has not ruled out any action with regard to China.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying called the reported visa ban idea “very pathetic” for the world’s “strongest power”.
“We hope the US will refrain from doing more things that disdain the basic norms governing international relations and undermine its reputation, credibility and status as a major country,” she told reporters.
Hu Xijin, editor in chief of the state media title Global Times, described the plan as “crazy and vicious, reflecting the Trump administration has lost rationality”.
“The US ruling team is committing a crime ruining the foundation for world peace,” he said.
Reaction to news of the proposed ban was mixed among Chinese netizens. Some were supportive of the idea, saying that party members should stay in China anyway out of patriotism, and that ending travel could help stop corruption. Others accused the US of hypocrisy with an attack on political freedom.
“The US protests against everything except the pandemic,” wrote one on Weibo. Another said: “The ban on party and family members is basically equivalent to breaking off relations. Aren’t the embassy staff party members?”
However by Friday, hashtags relating to news of Hua’s response had been removed from search functions.
Trump has been ramping up pressure on China, repeatedly blaming the Asian power for not preventing the coronavirus pandemic, which is taking a heavy toll in the United States months ahead of elections.
Last week the US state department said it would refuse visas for three senior Chinese officials over abuses in the Xinjiang region, where rights groups say more than one million Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims are incarcerated.
But a sweeping ban on members of the Chinese Communist party would be an extraordinary undertaking, requiring US authorities to step up screening of the approximately 3 million Chinese people who visited each year before the pandemic disrupted travel.
Chinese state media last year said that more than 90 million people belonged to the party, with 35% of them “workers and peasants.”
For many Chinese, membership in the 99-year-old party is seen as vital for advancement. Many observers were startled in 2018 to learn that Jack Ma, the billionaire businessman behind ecommerce titan Alibaba, belonged to the party.