Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) tweeted about changes in the United States’ behavior toward China.
“I’m pleased that the @Statedept is now working to level the playing field w/ China on US public diplomacy efforts by requiring Chinese diplomats to notify the State Dept before any meetings w/US colleges and universities, or any local or state officials,” Portman wrote Thursday.
I’m pleased that the @Statedept is now working to level the playing field w/ China on US public diplomacy efforts by requiring Chinese diplomats to notify the State Dept before any meetings w/ US colleges and universities, or any local or state officials. https://t.co/xp2oTYxkN7
— Rob Portman (@senrobportman) October 17, 2019
The Senator released a notice to the press stating, “Earlier this year, Portman and Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), unveiled a bipartisan report that detailed China’s one-sided treatment of key State Department diplomacy programs in China,” The Senator said in a statement. “The report described more than 80 instances where the Chinese government directly interfered with U.S. diplomacy efforts in China to engage with Chinese audiences. The report also included a key recommendation that the State Department demand ‘reciprocal and fair treatment of its diplomats and employees in China’.”
Portman added:
China’s persistent interference with U.S. public diplomacy efforts contradicts the important diplomatic principle of reciprocity that is recognized in international tradition and law. I’m pleased that the U.S. State Department is now working to level the playing field with China on U.S. public diplomacy efforts. Our PSI [Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations] report detailed instance after instance of the Chinese government interfering with U.S. visits, programs, and events throughout China. For too long the United States has modeled appropriate behavior in the hope that China will change. As we have learned to our disappointment, China will not change unless it sees its actions have consequences and this news is a positive first step.
Cited in the PSI report are several areas of concern:
- Failure to provide reciprocity for U.S. educators and officials in China while expanding their own Confucius Institutes throughout the U.S., including five in Ohio
- The Chinese government has allocated in excess of $158 million to their Confucius Institutes at more than 100 schools in the United States since 2006
- The communist leaders exercise tight control over these schools, including funding, staff, programming events and speakers.
- Some of the contracts with U.S. schools require adherence to Chinese law as well as U.S. law
Portman noted, “For too long the U.S. has modeled appropriate behavior in the hope that #China will change. As we have learned, China will not change unless it sees its actions have consequences & this news is a positive first step.”
For too long the U.S. has modeled appropriate behavior in the hope that #China will change. As we have learned, China will not change unless it sees its actions have consequences & this news is a positive first step. https://t.co/xp2oTYxkN7
— Rob Portman (@senrobportman) October 17, 2019
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Beth Lear is a reporter at The Ohio Star. Follow Beth on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
