Tensions between the two most powerful countries have found a sensitive new outlet in a row over anal swab tests for coronavirus.
Chinese officials violated accepted practice by forcing American diplomatic staff into the intimate procedure, the United States has alleged. Washington protested to the authorities in Beijing after learning of the tests and was assured that they were conducted “in error”.
The US State Department has stood firm on the examinations. “The State Department never agreed to this kind of testing and protested directly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when we learned that some staff were subject to it,” a spokesman told Vice, the online news service. “We have instructed staff to decline this test if it is asked of them, as was
