BEIJING (AP) — A U.S. government employee in southern China reported abnormal sensations of sound and pressure, the State Department said Wednesday, recalling similar experiences among American diplomats in Cuba who later fell ill.
In an emailed notice to American citizens in China, the department said it wasn’t currently known what caused the symptoms in the city of Guangzhou, where an American consulate is located.
“A U.S. government employee in China recently reported subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure,” the notice said. “The U.S. government is taking these reports seriously and has informed its official staff in China of this event.”
The department said it wasn’t aware of any similar situations in China, either within the diplomatic community or among others. It didn’t further identify the person with the symptoms or say when they had been detected.
China’s foreign ministry and National Health Commission did not immediately respond to faxed questions about the report.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaking in Washington to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the medical indications of the incident in Guangzhou “are very similar and entirely consistent with the medical indications of the Americans working in Havana.”
He said medical teams were being sent to Guangzhou and “we are working to figure out what took place both in Havana and Guangzhou.”
Pompeo is to meet on Wednesday with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. They are expected to focus on the planned U.S.-North Korea summit, but U.S. concerns about the incident in Guangzhou are also likely to be raised.
Despite hundreds of billions of dollars in annual trade between them, China and the U.S. are considered strategic rivals for influence in Asia. Tensions in the relationship frequently flare over accusations of cheating at trade, stealing of secrets, human rights and arms sales to Taiwan, a U.S. partner that China claims as its own territory.
In Cuba, the U.S. reported that some of its personnel and family members experienced a range of ailments, often after hearing an unusual sound. For most, the symptoms occurred around May 2017.
The still-unexplained incidents sparked a rift in U.S.-Cuban relations, while investigators have chased theories including a sonic attack, electromagnetic weapon or a flawed spying device.
Pompeo said he expects the results of an independent investigation into the Cuban incidents by the middle of next week.
Last October, the State Department ordered non-essential embassy personnel and the families of all staff to leave Havana, arguing the U.S. could not protect them from unexplained illnesses that have harmed at least 24 Americans.
Symptoms, sounds and sensations reportedly varied dramatically from person to person. Some have permanent hearing loss or concussions, while others suffered nausea, headaches and ear-ringing. Some are struggling with concentration or common word recall, The Associated Press has reported.
Some felt vibrations or heard loud sounds mysteriously audible in only parts of rooms, and others heard nothing.
State Dept.: US Gov’t Employee In China Reports ‘Abnormal Sound And Pressure’
This series of events both constitute an attack on the United States. If it turns out that this occurrence was a State-Sponsored activity, specifically targeted at the Embassies, then it could (and should) be construed as an act of war.
It is just as egregious as having a state-sponsored armed mob invade our sovereign diplomatic space and do injury to American citizens and interests in China, Cuba or anywhere else.
China is no longer in the throes of the “Great Leap Forward”, nor is Cuba still struggling to rid itself of Batista. So these events are not a consequence of a host Government somehow out of control of its people as was claimed somewhere like Iran in 1980.
I believe incontrovertibly that America was attacked in 2016 also.
But the International community still recognizes and accepts the unique (and reciprocally accepted) status of Embassies and Consulates under The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961. It is that pact that has been and is being flagrantly violated in these instances.
The sources and origins of these attacks also pose an ongoing threat to American Allies.
This is one story that should not be allowed to slide off the “greased pan” of America’s political news.
Amid the ever flowing “developments” in American politics these days, it is this story that represents another clear and present danger to America abroad in an unsettled world.
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If it doesn’t threaten the approval and construction of a Trump hotel, resort or golf course it’s of no consequence.
“abnormal sensations of sound and pressure”
Yeah, buddy. We have it back here in the good old US of A, too. It’s called “TRUMP”.
Donald Trump will solve this major diplomatic problem by promptly moving the Chinese embassy to Jerusalem.