The State Department announced on Wednesday the dismissal of a US diplomat due to a romantic relationship he acknowledged having with a Chinese woman purported to have connections to the Chinese Communist Party. This termination is believed to be the first instance of its nature, violating a ban on such relationships introduced late last year under the Biden administration. Earlier this year, The Associated Press reported that in the final days of Democratic President Joe Biden’s term, the State Department enforced a prohibition on all American govt personnel in China, as well as their family members and contractors with security clearances, from engaging in any romantic or sexual relationships with Chinese citizens, AFP reported. Tommy Pigott, a State Department spokesman, stated that the diplomat was dismissed from the foreign service after President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reviewed the case and concluded that he had “admitted concealing a romantic relationship with a Chinese national with known ties to the Chinese Communist Party.” “Under Secretary Rubio’s leadership, we will maintain a zero-tolerance policy for any employee who is caught undermining our country’s national security,” Pigott said The statement did not identify the diplomat, but he and his girlfriend had been featured in a surreptitiously filmed video posted online by conservative firebrand James O’Keefe on August 7.Sharing the news, O’Keefe referred to his old August 7 video telling viewers that he had earlier shown about that illegit couple.
