China invites Katie Zacharia to visit after toilet remark

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Friday that Katie Zacharia was welcome to visit China more often, responding to the newly appointed White House press secretary’s comment that the country lacked “proper toilets.” Zacharia made the remark during a Thursday interview with podcaster Jack Posobiec, while recalling perceptions in 2016 that China was rising as the United States faced a period of decline. She said she had recently come from China and remembered wondering how the country could be seen as a future global leader when, in her view, it did not have proper toilets. Asked about the comment at a regular Foreign Ministry news conference, Mao extended an invitation for Zacharia to visit. The response followed public attention to Zacharia’s remarks, but the reports do not independently establish conditions in Chinese toilets or how representative her experience was. Zacharia’s brief tenure in the White House role has also drawn scrutiny over her professional background. One report said President Donald Trump dismissed her less than a week after she took the job. Accounts of her bar-exam history and work in China have focused attention on how she has described...