Chinese diplomat posts then deletes ‘racist’ tweet, gets into Twitter clapback with former U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice
Lijan Zhao got into a clapback Twitter argument with former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice.
A senior Chinese diplomat deleted a tweet that was widely condemned as racist about white residents who refuse to live in Black communities in Washington DC.
It seems like President Donald Trump isn’t the only government official going on social media these days to express how he really feels about melanin rich people of color.
A senior Chinese diplomat has come under fire for an offensive (now deleted) tweet about residents of a Washington, DC neighborhood.
Lijian Zhao, deputy chief of mission for the China’s embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, made the comments while defending the mass detention of Muslims in the restrictive Xinjiang Province, NBC News reports. Numerous Western countries have issued a joint statement criticizing the move, but Zhao pulled a page out of the age old book of racism to help make it more clear for those fuming over the matter.
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“If you’re in Washington, D.C., you know the white never go to the SW area, because it’s an area for the black & Latin,” Zhao wrote on Twitter. “There’s a saying ‘black in & white out’, which means that as long as a black family enters, white people will quit, & price of the apartment will fall sharply.”
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The tweet sparked outrage on social media, namely from former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice who called Zhao a “racist disgrace” and “shockingly ignorant.” She then advised China’s ambassador in the U.S., Cui Tiankai, to “do the right thing and send him home.”
Zhao, who lived previously in Washington, DC clapped back to Rice that she was “such a disgrace, too. And shockingly ignorant, too. I am based in Islamabad. Truth hurts. I am simply telling the truth.”
He later attempted to clarify his statement by tweeting a link to a news article detailing racial segregation in Washington, D.C and explaining he was referring to the Southeast quadrant, not the Southwest quadrant. The report failed to curb the backlash, so Zhao eventually deleted his initial tweet.
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Interestingly enough, most people in China use other social media networks since Twitter is blocked in their country. Diplomats however are enjoying the luxury of the platform and engaging in ways that will give them the kind of notoriety experienced by Trump and other U.S. officials.
Not surprising, the White House has declined to comment and the State Department has made no specific comment. As for the Chinese Embassy in D.C.? They too have yet to comment and no word on if Zhao will be disciplined for his racist, petty words.
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