Report: US Bans Personnel in China From Romance, Sex With Locals

The US government has banned American government personnel in China, as well as family members and contractors with security clearances, from any romantic or sexual relationships with Chinese citizens, the AP has learned. Four people with direct knowledge of the matter told the AP about the policy, which was put into effect by departing US Ambassador Nicholas Burns in January shortly before he left China. The people would speak only on condition of anonymity to discuss details of a confidential new directive.

• Though some US agencies already had strict rules on such relationships, a blanket "non-fraternization" policy, as it is known, has been unheard of publicly since the Cold War. It's not uncommon for American diplomats in other countries to date locals and even marry them

• A more limited version of the policy was enacted last summer prohibiting US personnel from "romantic and sexual relations" with Chinese citizens working as guards and other support staff at the US Embassy and five consulates in China. But Burns, the departing ambassador, broadened it to a blanket ban on such relations with any Chinese citizen in China in January, days before President Trump took office. The AP was unable to determine exactly how the policy defined the phrase "romantic or sexual relationship."
• Two of the people with knowledge of the ban told the AP the new policy was first discussed last summer after members of Congress contacted Burns to express concern that restrictions on such relationships were not stringent enough. The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party did not respond to a request for comment.
• The only exception to the policy is US personnel with pre-existing relationships with Chinese citizens; they can apply for exemptions. If the exemption is denied, they must end the relationship or leave their position, the AP's sources said. Anyone who violates the policy will be ordered to leave China immediately.
• Peter Mattis, a former CIA analyst and president of The Jamestown Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, says there were at least two publicized cases in which Chinese agents seduced American diplomats stationed in China, though he hasn't heard of such a case in recent years. He says Chinese state security doesn't gather intelligence just through spies, but also by pressing ordinary Chinese people for information, often through threats or intimidation, meaning any Chinese citizen who dates an American diplomat could be vulnerable to coercion.

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