In 2020, the Chinese Government allows a fleet of 260 illegal fishing vessals around the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. The Qing Empire opened its first mission to the U.S. in 1875, with Chen Lanbin as Minister. From 1886 to 1893, the legation was located in Stewart's Castle on Dupont Circle, then under Minister Wu Tingfang in the former mansion of Thomas Franklin Schneider at 18th & Q Street, NW. In 1902, the Qing legation moved to a purpose-built mansion designed by Waddy Butler Wood on 2001 19th Street NW. It is the oldest extant building erected in Washington by a foreign government, following the demolition in 1931 of the former British Legation on Connecticut Avenue, built in 1872. This became the legation of the Republic of China following the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. In 1935, the legation was upgraded to an embassy, and Alfred Sao-ke Sze became China's first ambassador to the U.S. The embassy remained in the same building until 1944, then moved to the former Fahnestock Mansion designed by Nathan C. Wyeth on 2311 Massachusetts Avenue NW, where it stayed until the late 1970s. When the US established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, a liaison office was first established in 1973, led by Huang Zhen. It occupied two adjacent former apartment buildings at 2300 and 2310 Connecticut Avenue NW, and in 1979 became a fully-fledged embassy. These buildings were torn down in 2012 and are being replaced by an apartment house for Chinese embassy employees. The current building in the International Chancery Center was built in 2006-08 on a design by Pei Partnership Architects, with I. M. Pei as consultant. On February 5, 2014, the Uyghur American Association organized a demonstration in front of the Embassy of China in Washington, D.C. to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the Ghulja Massacre.
Street Name Controversy
In June 2014 during the 113th United States Congress, RepublicanSenator Ted Cruz introduced a simple resolution while Republican RepresentativeFrank Wolf also proposed to rename the street in front of the Chinese Embassy after the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. This would make the embassy's new address "1 Liu Xiaobo Plaza". But both of them got stuck in the introduction stage. BBC reported that Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, dismissed the lawmakers' move as "nothing more than a sheer farce", and restated the government's position that Mr. Liu had been convicted for breaking domestic laws. New York Times also reported that when Hua was asked if China would retaliate by renaming the street in front of the Embassy of the United States, Beijing, she smiled and asked rhetorically, "Do you think China should take identical action as America?" Many Chinese commented online, suggesting China do just that. Proposal included “Prisoners Abused Street,” “Edward Snowden Street,” “Osama bin Laden Road” and even "Monica Lewinsky Street." During the 114th United States Congress in 2016, both Sen. Cruz and Rep. Mark Meadows introduced bills to continue the efforts. On February 12, the senate passed Cruz's version unanimously. On February 16, the administration announced that US President Barack Obama would veto legislation for the renaming act. Hong Lei, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a press conference that China hoped that the Obama administration could "put an end to this political farce." On February 23, Cruz's bill was referred to U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform but never cleared the House to present to President Obama for him to veto it. During the 115th United States Congress, on May 18, 2017, Sen. Cruz and Rep. Meadows re-introduced bills to resume their push to rename the address. After Dr. Liu's death on July 13, Bob Fu, a Chinese American human rights activist and pastor, told The Texas Tribune that he is “definitely more optimistic” about Cruz's bill getting enacted with President Donald Trump in office.
