In rare rebuke, US ambassador accuses China of undermining diplomacy

BEIJING—In November last year, President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to boost engagement between ordinary Chinese and Americans, part of an effort to repair fraying ties ahead of a tense election year in the U.S. Instead, says Nicholas Burns, Washington's ambassador in Beijing, China has actively undermined those ties, interrogating and intimidating citizens who attend U.S.-organized events in China, ramping up restrictions on the embassy's social-media posts and whipping up anti-American sentiment. "They say they're in favor of reconnecting our two populations, but they're taking dramatic steps to make it impossible,” Burns said in an interview with The…