China has invited former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia to visit the country more frequently after she criticised its toilet facilities during a recent interview, prompting a response from Beijing’s Foreign Ministry.
Zacharia, whose brief tenure as press secretary ended after President Donald Trump dismissed her less than a week into the role, made the controversial comment while speaking with far-right podcaster Jack Posobiec on Thursday.
Recounting her experience in China, she questioned the country’s rise as a global power, citing its toilet facilities as an example.
“I remember this very distinctly, having just come from China, thinking, how is China the next country on the horizon? They don’t even have proper toilets,” she said.
Her remarks came during a discussion about perceptions surrounding the 2016 US presidential election, when some believed America’s period of dominance was drawing to a close while China was emerging as a major global competitor.
Asked about Zacharia’s comments on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning responded with an invitation for the former White House official to return.
“She’s welcome to come and see China more often when she has the opportunity,” Mao said.
The comments also generated reactions on Weibo, China’s widely used social media platform. Several users described Zacharia’s remarks as “foolish,” while others acknowledged that toilet facilities in some parts of the country had fallen short of expected standards about a decade ago.
China has undergone significant economic and social changes since it began reforming and opening up its economy in the late 1970s. The country has since become the world’s second-largest economy, with hundreds of millions of people lifted out of poverty.
Despite this transformation, disparities in development persist, particularly between major urban centres and rural or remote communities.
Zacharia’s experience in China has also attracted attention amid scrutiny of her professional background following her short and controversial appointment to the White House communications role.
A White House official previously told CNN that Zacharia had lived in China with her husband.
Her LinkedIn profile indicates that she worked in Beijing for nearly two years from 2011 as an “associate” on the international practice team of Zhong Lun, one of China’s largest law firms.
Zacharia had also defended her professional background in a statement, saying she had “practiced international transactional law, with all the appropriate credentials.”
However, questions have been raised about the nature of those credentials. According to China’s Ministry of Justice, only Chinese citizens can obtain licences to practise law in the country, leaving it unclear what specific qualification Zacharia may have held during her time at the firm.
