Chinese diplomat points to DC racial segregation, gets slammed as ‘racist disgrace’ by Obama adviser

Responding to US accusations of racism amid an ongoing Twitter war over China’s policies toward religious minorities, a Chinese diplomat took aim at racial segregation in America’s capital.

Lijian Zhao, deputy chief of mission at the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan kicked off the war of words over the weekend, with a string of tweets that began as commentary on Western criticism of China’s policies toward its Muslim Uighur population. His remarks soon drifted into the treatment of minority groups in the US.

“If you’re in Washington, DC, you know the white never go to the SW area, because it’s an area for the black & Latin,” Zhao wrote in a now deleted tweet. “There’s a saying ‘black in & white out’, which means that as long as a black family enters, white people will quit, & price of the apartment will fall sharply.”

Zhao soon clarified that he meant to say Southeast DC, and added, “Racism in US has existed since the colonial era. Racial stratification continues to occur in employment, housing, education, lending, & government.” He later deleted that comment as well. 

It wasn’t long before Susan Rice, former US ambassador to the UN and National Security Advisor to President Barack Obama, took notice of Zhao’s tweets and launched a salvo of her own, slamming the embassy official for racism and calling for his termination.

“You are a racist disgrace. And shockingly ignorant too. In normal times, you would be PNGed for this,” Rice said, referring to declaring a diplomat persona non grata.

“Ambassador Cui, I expect better of you and your team. Please do the right thing and send him home,” she added, addressing China’s ambassador to the US in apparent belief that Zhao worked at the DC embassy.

“Truth hurts,” Zhao shot back in another scrubbed message. “To label someone who speak the truth that you don’t want to hear a racist, is disgraceful & disgusting.”

Western states have condemned Beijing’s approach to handling religious extremism in its Xinjiang province, where they allege around 1 million ethnic Uighurs have been forced into ‘re-education centers’ for deradicalization. The Chinese government has denied the accusations.

Last Friday, a joint statement was signed by 37 countries defending China’s policies in Xinjiang, a direct response to an earlier joint-letter issued by 22 states in the Western orbit criticizing Beijing’s conduct in the region.

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