Former national security adviser Susan Rice called a Chinese diplomat a "racist disgrace" after he brought up race relations in Washington, DC, while defending China's detention of an estimated 1 million Muslims in Xinjiang province. In a now-deleted tweet, Zhao Lijian said: "If you’re in Washington DC, you know the white never go to the SW area, because it’s an area for the black & Latin." Zhao, who is one of the Chinese diplomats most active on Twitter, also attacked US foreign policy in a stream of tweets denouncing a letter in which the UN ambassadors of 22 countries urged China to end the "arbitrary detention and restrictions on freedom of movement of Uygurs" and other Muslims, the South China Morning Post reports.
"You are a racist disgrace. And shockingly ignorant too. In normal times, you would be PNGed for this," Rice tweeted Monday, referring to the practice of declaring unwanted diplomats persona non grata. "Ambassador Cui, I expect better of you and your team. Please do the right thing and send him home," Rice said, addressing China's ambassador to the US in the apparent belief Zhao was posted to the US. Zhao, who is part of China's diplomatic mission in Pakistan, fired back at Rice in another now-deleted tweet Monday, the Hill reports. "You are such a disgrace, too. And shockingly ignorant, too," he said. "I am based in Islamabad. Truth hurts. I am simply telling the truth." (More Susan Rice stories.)