The U.S. State Department on Oct. 8 said it has fired a diplomat over his relationship with a woman alleged to have ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement that the diplomat was dismissed after President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reviewed the case and determined that he had “admitted concealing a romantic relationship with a Chinese national with known ties to the [CCP].”

“Under Secretary Rubio’s leadership, we will maintain a zero-tolerance policy for any employee who is caught undermining our country’s national security,” Pigott said.

The statement does not reveal the identity of the terminated foreign service diplomat.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun declined to comment on what he described as a domestic U.S. issue, but he said Beijing opposes “drawing lines along ideological difference and maliciously vilifying China.”

Transnational Repression

The diplomat’s dismissal and concerns over officials being unduly influenced by CCP-connected individuals underscore the broader challenge facing the United States as it contends with Beijing’s expanding reach beyond China.

This includes transnational repression, which involves a regime’s exertion of political oppression outside of its own borders.

In September, Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) told The Epoch Times that the White House and other agencies must expose the CCP’s transnational repression.

“We’ve heard from multiple sources the fact that China is capable today of launching information operation campaigns, intimidation campaigns, including using an entire class of political warfare against us, citizens on U.S. soil,” Nunn said.

“This is a direct threat. This is no longer theoretical. This is something that the U.S. government has to not only call out clearly, but also hold Beijing accountable for personally under the CCP’s decision to make these cross-border incursions that are doing harm on U.S. soil.”

Since 2024, the CCP has intensified efforts to harass Falun Gong practitioners and disrupt the worldwide classical Chinese dance performances of New York state-based Shen Yun Performing Arts.

A wave of incidents in the United States has drawn concern from lawmakers and rights advocates. The incidents have included bomb threats, distorted media coverage of Shen Yun, efforts to downplay the CCP’s forced organ harvesting crimes, defamation campaigns by Chinese internet users, and malicious lawsuits targeting Falun Gong practitioners and institutions.

The Associated Press and Olivia Li contributed to this report.