Former national security adviser Susan Rice called a Chinese diplomat a “racist disgrace” in a tweet Monday.
“You are a racist disgrace. And shockingly ignorant too. In normal times, you would be PNGed for this,” Rice tweeted in reference to Lijian Zhao, a diplomat posted in Islamabad.
In a now-deleted tweet, Zhao said that if “you’re in Washington, D.C., you know the white never go” to the southeastern part of the U.S. capital.
{mosads}”PNGed” refers to being designated as a persona non grata, essentially a ban on a diplomat from entering a country.
Rice, who served in the Obama administration, also referred to China’s ambassador to the U.S., Cui Tiankai, likely assuming that Zhao was posted in China’s mission in Washington.
“Ambassador Cui, I expect better of you and your team,” she wrote. “Please do the right thing and send him home.”
The diplomat’s comments came amid a large stream of tweets criticizing the U.S., seemingly in defense of the mass detention of Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province.
In another deleted tweet, Zhao fired back at Rice, according to Bloomberg News.
“You are such a disgrace, too. And shockingly ignorant, too. I am based in Islamabad. Truth hurts. I am simply telling the truth,” Zhao reportedly said on Monday. “To label someone who speak the truth that you don’t want to hear a racist, is disgraceful & disgusting.”