The U. S. State Department has chosen the Chinese government as the sole source of all local employees for embassy and consulate work in China, it was discovered by the House of Representatives International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde.  At one consulate the ratio is more than four Chinese employees for each American.

      “What kind of diplomatic security can American officials have when the vast majority of workers are placed there by the communist government?  What kind of sympathetic service can American citizens have when they complain about mistreatment by Chinese businesses and officials?” questioned Carl Olson, chairman of State Department Watch, a nonpartisan foreign policy watchdog group.

      Maxine Russell tried to get a straight story about the killing of her son Darren in Guangzhou in Southern China near Hong Kong in April 2005.  She was given the runaround by both Chinese and American workers at the American consulate.  Her son had been employed as a teacher of English, but when he complained about sweatshop conditions at the school, he was fired and sent off to a hotel in a dangerous part of town.  He phoned the consulate and his parents in California complaining about threats.  In the middle of the night, he was found on the street with fatal head injuries.  The Chinese authorities said he was hit by a truck despite the lack of injuries on his torso or legs.  [Complete details on website:  www.whiterabbitsmom.org.]

      Complaints to the State Department bureaucracy were fruitless until the House of Representatives International Relations Committee sent an investigator in early 2006.

      The committee inquired, among other things, “How many American employees were assigned to the U. S. Consulate in Guangzhou in April/May 2005?  How many Chinese employees?  Are all Chinese employees contracted from the Chinese government’s Diplomatic Services Bureau (DSB)?”

      The State Department admitted, “Forty-three Americans and approximately 170 local staff worked at the Consulate General in Guangzhou in May 2005.  Diplomatic missions in China are prohibited by the Chinese government from contracting directly for personnel services.  Nominally, all our employees have contracts with DSB; however, the hiring decisions and management of our employees is totally with our purview.”

      Olson observed, “The American public is being taxed to pay for Chinese workers from the communist government infiltrating and distorting our American embassy and consulates.  Can’t the State Department find workers who are loyal to America and American citizens?"