Former Trump adviser says China delayed visa to attend forum
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Mr Michael Pillsbury said he submitted a visa application on March 22 and it had not been granted in time for him to travel to Beijing for a forum on April 14.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - A former US defence official who served on the Trump transition team said on Wednesday (April 17) he had been prevented from speaking at a forum in China after its embassy in Washington failed to approve his visa.
Mr Michael Pillsbury said he submitted a visa application on March 22 and it had not been granted in time for him to travel to Beijing for the April 14 event.
"So, is this a subtle message of some kind, or just a mistake," Mr Pillsbury told Reuters, adding he was still "waiting patiently for my visa to be issued".
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he needed to look into the details of the situation, but in principle, Chinese embassies handle visa applications in accordance with the law and China welcomed people-to-people exchanges with the United States.
"We welcome and are willing to proactively promote China-US people-to-people exchanges and promote mutual understanding between the two countries," he said.
Beijing and Washington are currently in talks to end a bitter trade war, but have also sparred over other issues such as human rights and US support for self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its sacred territory.
Mr Pillsbury said the visa delay could be in retaliation for US visa restrictions on some Chinese academics, which the New York Times reported on Sunday, citing Chinese scholars who said their US visas had been cancelled.
Mr Pillsbury said he had been invited to the forum by the Centre for China and Globalisation (CCG), which co-organised the event with an association under China's Commerce Ministry.
A CCG invitation sent to journalists included Mr Pillsbury on a list of confirmed attendees along with experts, ambassadors and former government officials from around the world.
The agenda said Mr Pillsbury, a senior fellow focused on China at the conservative Hudson Institute, was to take part in a panel discussion on tensions in US-China relations.
"I'm surprised at this delay which is usually reserved only for harsh critics of China," said Mr Pillsbury, whose book, The Hundred Year Marathon - China's Secret Strategy to Replace America, was translated by China's National Defence University.
"Chinese have told me they consider my views to be a 'moderate' hawk, not a 'super hawk', who they would never invite," he said.
A spokesman for the New York-based Asia Society said one of its experts, Ms Wendy Cutler, a former US trade official, had also not received a visa in time to attend the April forum.
