US diplomacy push after Chinese balloon incident comes under bipartisan fire at House panel


A senior State Department official took heavy fire from Republicans and Democrats in a US congressional hearing on Tuesday for Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s attempts to move beyond the Chinese balloon incident that put bilateral engagements on hold for months earlier this year.

Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink also faced withering criticism from Republicans for the back-to-back trips by President Joe Biden’s top officials to Beijing, including Blinken’s in June, which Democratic congresswoman Judy Chu of California called “chasing Chinese Communist Party officials for fruitless engagements”.

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