Credit:  U.S. Department of State /  Former US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice 

DIPLOMATIC TIMES STAFF

Former national security adviser Susan Rice condemned a Chinese diplomat as “a racist disgrace” following incendiary tweets by the envoy,  CNN reported.                 

Lijian Zhao, a diplomat posted in Islamabad, in a series of Tweets  regarding international criticism of China’s mass detention of Muslims and other religious minorities in the Xinjiang province, said on Sunday that if “you’re in Washington D.C., you know the white never go” to the southeastern part of the city “because it’s an area for the black & Latin.

“You are a racist disgrace. And shockingly ignorant too.” 

-Rice blasted Zhao on Twitter.  

You are a racist disgrace. And shockingly ignorant too. In normal times, you would be PNGed for this.

Ambassador Cui, I expect better of you and your team. Please do the right thing and send him home. https://t.co/KIKanBjQ2L

— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) July 15, 2019

Rice noted that ‘in normal times,” the Chinese diplomat would be declared a persona non grata — the top form of rebuke for a diplomat — over the tweeted comments about the nation’s capital.

Rice served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 2009 to 2013. She was on the staff of the National Security Council and as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs during President Bill Clinton’s second term. She was confirmed as Ambassador to the United Nations by the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent on January 22, 2009.