Did China use its 'zero-Covid policy' to 'harass' US diplomats in Beijing?

A report by the Wall Street Journal citing Congressional documents, including internal memos, emails, cables, showed how China used its “zero-Covid policy” to not only control its citizens but also subject these similar “inhumane practices” to United States diplomats in Beijing. 

Documents submitted to the US State Department over the past two years detail Beijing’s mistreatment of foreign-service officers and their families assigned to the US Embassy and consulates in China. They allege that during their time in quarantine they were separated from their families for months. 

Reportedly, they were forced to undergo months of quarantine, multiple and unnecessary medical tests as well as use China’s “health” app which was supposedly used to monitor and control them. 

In early 2020, US evacuated at least 1,300 diplomats and their families from China after Covid first hit and communicated a list of demands over the summer saying that the State refuses to let “authoritarian governments use Covid as an excuse to mistreat or monitor diplomats,” said the report. However, Beijing refused to comply with the demands set by the US and in September they signed a “limited waiver of inviolability.”

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The waiver reportedly let China impose a mandatory 14-day quarantine, and require three Covid tests (pre-departure, upon arrival at the airport and on the 13th day in quarantine). If tested positive they were taken to a “hospital” until recovered. 

The acting chief of the China mission, in a 97-page memo, sent on January 7, 2022, reportedly detailed how upon arrival they were sent to China-selected hotels which they believed to be “government-run”. Citing Congressional aides, the report says that at least 30 individuals were “imprisoned” for weeks while the State has told the WSJ there were 16 people. They were also frustrated at the State’s lack of response and eventually turned to Congress. 

The adults and children over the age of 14 were asked to quarantine separately which caused one of the teenagers mental health problems. The rooms had “not been cleaned in months”, and were mouldy and “unhealthy” said the memo. It also alleged that the results of their Covid tests were being altered “to achieve an additional level of control” as several families which had tested negative on arrival were suddenly testing positive and were taken not to the hospital but to “fever clinics”. 

These so-called fever clinics, according to the report, were “small, dirty rooms” with doors locked and barred windows. Upon arrival, they were “required to undergo nasal and throat swabs, to provide sputum, urine and stool samples, and to submit to EKGs and CT scans,” said the report citing the memo. They also believe they were being monitored and the Chinese were collecting intelligence as well as their DNA. 

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Citing the memo the report also said one family spent at least 69 days in a fever clinic which provided no soap, toilet paper, towels, laundry service, or even potable water with minimal food (largely soup). Detainees would have to wait for care packages and reported a notable weight loss. 

Meanwhile, the children of the family had to be “forcibly restrained” as the staff reportedly used adult-sized nasal swabs and caused nosebleeds multiple times due to repeated testing, while the parents reported ongoing trauma, said the WSJ. 

Reportedly another family of five at the clinic for nearly two months in 2021 was cumulatively subjected to 159 throat, nose and blood tests. The test results would take weeks or months on end, during which they were denied urgent medical care. 

The report refers to the story of a two-year-old mentioned in the memo who got injured and it took his family 12 hours to find any clinic that would agree to stitch up the wound. Another diplomat who faced severe stomach pain and alerted the Embassy was asked to stay put and was later diagnosed with appendicitis. 

During this time the memo also alleged that the Chinese health app which was supposedly a “contact-tracing tool” was being used to monitor their movement and employ changing definitions to target diplomats in a bid to increase the duration of their quarantine. The report citing the documents said that the senior leaders of the State were aware of this treatment. 

However, the State Department officials told WSJ, “This issue has been resolved. Since March, 609 U.S. officials and family members have arrived in (China), and none have been placed in a fever hospital.” Three people during the post-travel quarantine were also evacuated to avoid the fever clinics, they added. 

They also told WSJ that now they provide an Embassy letter outlining diplomatic rights which reportedly allows diplomats to quarantine at their residences and not compel them to go to these facilities and also does not permit separation of children from their parents which China has agreed to define as under the age of 18.  

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US senator Jim Risch had raised these allegations of abuse in a letter to the Secretary of State Antony Blinken in which he noted that China’s conduct “potentially violates the internationally recognized human rights of U.S. diplomats, and poses a serious national security risk,” said the report. 

Earlier this year in September, the issue was also raised by two other US congress members and China swiftly dismissed their complaints. At the time, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said they use a “science-based and effective epidemic prevention protocol” for both Chinese and people entering China “without discrimination”. 

She added that such statements by US lawmakers were “absurd and completely groundless,” and show signs of “China phobia.” The Chinese spokesperson also said that she was unaware of the previously mentioned 16 Americans or how the congress members arrived at that number adding that it was “even more nonsense to say that China obtained intelligence from the U.S. through quarantine.”

(With inputs from agencies) 

 

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