Beijing told the White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia on Friday to visit China “more often”, after she said the country lacked “proper toilets” less than a week into her new post.
In response, China’s foreign ministry on Friday suggested she may want to make another trip to the country. After years of intense rivalry between the United States and China over globally challenging issues from trade and technology to Taiwan and human rights, the US president’s new spokesperson took the two sides’ relationship to uncharted territory. Zacharia’s remarks come just days after what many considered a somewhat questionable debut in front of the White House press corp in which she appeared to be unable to answer basic questions and at one point referred to her husband as the president.
Zacharia said she did not retake the bar exam upon returning to the United States due to the birth of her first child.
Trump has often spoken about his “great relationship” with China’s President Xi Jinping, who he has met twice this year, though ties remain strained. Asked about her legal background on Thursday, she said she had registered to take the bar exam but was then “distracted and overwhelmed” by plans to move with her husband to China.
