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WASHINGTON – The United States on Saturday (September 12) called Beijing’s decision to impose restrictions on all US diplomats on Chinese soil as an “escalation,” the latest reprimand in an ongoing tit-for-tat dispute over foreign missions.
Relations between the world’s two major economies have deteriorated in recent months, with both sides caught in fierce recriminations over trade disputes, human rights, and the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
On Friday, China announced “reciprocal restrictions” against US diplomats, days after Washington announced new restrictions on personnel working for Beijing’s foreign missions.
Beijing said the unspecified countermeasures will apply to all US embassy and consulate personnel, including the consulate general in Hong Kong and its staff, calling the measure a “legitimate and necessary response.”
READ: Beijing will impose restrictions on all US diplomats in China
But the United States said on Saturday that the Chinese measures went beyond what it had done.
A State Department spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity said Beijing’s move was an “escalation,” citing the attack on its Hong Kong representative and restrictions on Chinese citizens meeting with Americans in the form of a ” new pre-meeting notification requirement. “
“These notification requirements now include US citizens without affiliation with the US government. We have no such requirement for citizens of the People’s Republic of China,” the spokesman said, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.
The dispute over foreign missions erupted in July when Washington ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston, prompting Beijing to shut down the US presence in Chengdu.
The battle for diplomatic outposts is just one front in a growing confrontation between the United States and China.
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Washington imposed sanctions on officials accused of helping orchestrate the mass internment of Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities in the country’s Xinjiang region, a program that has sparked a global outcry for human rights.
Last month he blacklisted officials whom he accused of suppressing “freedom and democratic processes” in Hong Kong, after the imposition of a national security law aimed at quelling civil unrest in the financial center.
The move prompted China to issue its own sanctions against several prominent Americans.
President Donald Trump has also sparked an angry reaction from Chinese officials by blaming Beijing for the global spread of the coronavirus.
And Washington has also accused Chinese tech companies and platforms, from Huawei to TikTok, of working in the interests of the Chinese Communist Party.
Beijing denied on Friday that it was trying to meddle in the upcoming US presidential election after tech giant Microsoft said it thwarted cyberattacks by foreign groups, including China.
