The United States administration has announced that from now on, senior Chinese diplomats will be required to obtain State Department approval before visiting US college campuses, Reuters reports. Holding a cultural event with more than 50 attendees outside mission grounds will also require a permit.
“We’re simply demanding reciprocity,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a news briefing. “Access for our diplomats in China should be reflective of the access that Chinese diplomats in the United States have, and today’s steps will move us substantially in that direction.”
In response, China’s Washington embassy called the move “yet another unjustified restriction and barrier on Chinese diplomatic and consular personnel” that “runs counter to the self-proclaimed values of openness and freedom of the U.S. side.”