Republicans demand answers after top official backs out of hearing on China ahead of Blinken trip
Fox News
House Republicans are demanding answers after a top official who recently traveled to China on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre abruptly canceled a congressional subcommittee hearing ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Beijing this week.
Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, raised eyebrows after he traveled to Beijing on June 4, which also marked the 34th anniversary of the Chinese military slaughtering hundreds, possibly thousands, of pro-democracy protesters.
The trip was slammed by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as handing a “major coup” to Chinese President Xi Jinping while weakening the United States’ position on the world stage.
Republicans are speaking out again after Kritenbrink was scheduled to testify Wednesday morning at an annual budget meeting for the State Department’s East Asia and the Pacific Affairs, but it was canceled without someone being sent in Kritenbrink’s place.
“This is them going radio silent because they don’t want to talk about it,” Issa’s spokesman, Jonathan Wilcox, told Fox News Digital. “There’s no reschedule date.”
Issa said the Biden administration is allowing the Chinese government to take advantage of the U.S.
“At every turn, Biden has met Chinese challenge not with strength and certitude, but with weakness, concessions and PR coups for Beijing,” the congressman told Fox News Digital. “China will only pocket every surrender from this White House and demand more because they know they’ll get it.”
Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific, sent a letter on behalf of the subcommittee to Kritenbrink Wednesday, saying, “We are concerned this is yet another example of a broader unwillingness to engage with Congress, and potentially hold back on action against the [People’s Republic of China], to defer to upcoming meetings with Beijing.”
The subcommittee’s letter demanded that Kritenbrink brief members no later than this Sunday, “and be prepared to answer questions about our engagement with PRC officials in addition to our spending programs.”
“Assistant Secretary Kritenbrink could have easily testified to the Indo-Pacific Subcommittee as scheduled on Wednesday before his trip with Secretary Blinken two days later, on Friday,” Kim told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The State Department’s recent engagement with Beijing and refusal to comply with congressional oversight only warrants questions about their strategy to assert U.S. leadership against the Chinese Communist Party.”
“The CCP’s recent moves toward the United States – from spy balloons to surveillance bases – cannot go unnoticed or unchallenged,” she added. “I will continue to press for answers and transparency from this administration, so we can hold authoritarian regimes accountable and project strength on the world stage.”
The State Department announced Wednesday that Blinken will travel Friday to Beijing, where he will meet with senior PRC officials and “discuss the importance of maintaining open lines of communication to responsibly manage the U.S.-PRC relationship. He will also raise bilateral issues of concern, global and regional matters, and potential cooperation on shared transnational challenges.”
Dialogue between the Biden administration and Beijing has been nearly dormant in recent months as attempts at interactions have been shuttered since the U.S. shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon that traversed the country earlier this year.
A previously scheduled trip by Blinken, during which he was expected to meet with Xi, was canceled amid the China spy balloon incident.
The U.S.-China relationship has been further strained over China’s military activity in the South China Sea and the United States’ support for Taiwan.
Additionally, Beijing has taken umbrage after the U.S. warned China against arming Russia to help its war in Ukraine.
CIA Director William Burns secretly visited China last month in an effort to restore relations, meeting with his Chinese counterparts to emphasize “the importance of maintaining open lines of communication in intelligence channels,” according to the Financial Times, which first reported the visit.
The State Department did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.