WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department said Wednesday it has fired a U.S. diplomat over a romantic relationship he admitted to having with a Chinese woman believed to have ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
The dismissal is believed to be the first of its kind for violating a ban on such relationships introduced under the Biden administration late last year.
The Associated Press reported earlier this year that in the waning days of Democrat Joe Biden's presidency, the State Department imposed a ban on all U.S. government personnel in China, as well as family members and contractors with security clearances, from any romantic or sexual relationships with Chinese citizens.
Tommy Pigott, a State Department spokesman, said in a statement that the diplomat in question was dismissed from the Foreign Service after President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reviewed the case and determined that he “admitted to 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 caught undermining our country's national security,” Pigott said.
The statement did not identify the diplomat, but he and his girlfriend were seen in a surreptitiously filmed video posted online by conservative rabble-rouser James O'Keefe.
