The Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Daily refused to publish the U.S. ambassador’s letter to China, sparking another diplomatic debate between the two countries. The U.S. Embassy in China later published the full text of the article in Chinese on Weibo and called on the Chinese authorities to respect the right of Western diplomats to speak directly with the Chinese people.
The U.S. Embassy in China also wrote that the People’s Daily’s response “once again exposes the Chinese Communist Party’s fear of free speech and serious intellectual debate, as well as Beijing’s hypocrisy in complaining about the lack of fair and reciprocal treatment in other countries.
According to Taiwan’s Central News Agency, the article, posted at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 11, received more than 2,200 likes and 1,937 retweets, but users’ comments at the time of the retweets were unavailable, and “comments are prohibited on this article” was displayed at the bottom of the article. The microblogging article has now been deleted.
In response to People’s Daily’s refusal to publish Branstad’s contribution, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement on September 9 criticizing the CCP for hypocrisy and fear of the people’s freedom of thought. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian and People’s Daily have hit back at Pompeo, saying that they have the right to refuse to publish “smear” articles.
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