Viral Swing: China denies report it may detain Americans, says U.S. mistreats its scholars

Monday, 19 October 2020

China denies report it may detain Americans, says U.S. mistreats its scholars

China denied on Monday that foreign nationals are under threat of arbitrary detention, following a newspaper report that Beijing had warned Washington it might arrest Americans in China. The Chinese foreign ministry said it was Washington that was mistreating foreign citizens, accusing the United States of "outright political repression" of Chinese academics. "The U.S. claim that foreign nationals in China are under threat of arbitrary detention is playing the victim and confusing black and white," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular news briefing.