WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s administration said Wednesday it fired a State Department employee who did not acknowledge a romantic relationship with a Chinese national.
“The State Department has officially terminated the employment of a Foreign Service officer who admitted concealing a romantic relationship with a Chinese national with known ties to the Chinese Communist Party,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.
The State Department said the officer, a man whom it did not identify, said on camera that the Chinese woman “could have been a spy” but did not say if there was any proof of espionage.
The dismissed employee said his partner’s father was “straight-up communist party,” according to the State Department.
The Chinese Communist Party permeates life in the billion-plus country in areas from business to education, with many ordinary Chinese maintaining ties out of practicality as much as ideology.
The State Department said it was the first known dismissal taken under an executive order signed by Trump shortly after returning to office in which he ordered that all employees “faithfully implement the president’s policy.”
“We will maintain a zero-tolerance policy for any employee who is caught undermining our country’s national security,” Pigott said.
The United States earlier this year said it would restrict employees in China from entering romantic relationships with locals, a rare step reminiscent of the Cold War.
US State Department fires diplomat over relationship with Chinese
https://arab.news/njr9u
US State Department fires diplomat over relationship with Chinese
- Diplomat admitted concealing a romantic relationship with a Chinese national with known ties to the Chinese Communist Party, says department spokesman
- The Trump administration earlier this year said it would restrict employees in China from entering romantic relationships with locals, a rare step reminiscent of the Cold War
Militants kill 6 officers and a civilian in ambushes on police vehicles in northwest Pakistan
- Assailants ambushed a police vehicle and killed one officer in Kohat — when police reinforcements arrived, they launched another attack and killed five more officers and a civilian
- No group claimed responsibility for this week’s attacks, but suspicion may fall on the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or the TTP
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A pair of attacks on police vehicles by suspected militants killed at least six police officers and a civilian in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, authorities said.
The assailants ambushed a police vehicle and killed one officer in Kohat, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. When police reinforcements arrived minutes later, they launched another attack and killed five more officers and a civilian, police official Kamran Khan said.
Separately on Tuesday, a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a police post in Bukkur, a district in eastern Punjab province, killing two officers and wounding four others, police official Shahzad Rafiq said.
He provided no further details and only said officers were still investigating.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, which have increased across the country in recent months.
President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attacks in Kohat and Bukkur and offered condolences to the victims’ families.
The latest violence followed an attack on a paramilitary post in Karak on Monday, when a drone loaded with explosives wounded several officers. The attackers later ambushed two ambulances transporting the wounded, killing three officers and burning their bodies before fleeing. The driver of the second ambulance transported several wounded officers despite suffering burn injuries and authorities recovered the remains of the three officers.
No group claimed responsibility for this week’s attacks, but suspicion may fall on the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or the TTP. The TTP is separate from, but closely allied with, Afghanistan’s Taliban. Islamabad has accused the group of operating from inside Afghanistan, a claim the TTP and Kabul deny.
Pakistan’s military said it killed at least 70 militants on Sunday in strikes along the Afghan border, targeting hideouts of Pakistani militants blamed for recent attacks inside the country.
