Beijing Tells White House Spokeswoman to 'Visit More Often' After Her Toilet Remark About China

Beijing Tells White House Spokeswoman to 'Visit More Often' After Her Toilet Remark About China

A week on the job, and a diplomatic sideshow

Katie Zacharia, the new White House press secretary, is less than a week into the job and already at the center of a small diplomatic storm. In an interview that aired Thursday, she said China does not even have "proper toilets." The remark, first picked up by AFP and then carried by Bloomberg, Euronews, Channel NewsAsia, The Straits Times and outlets from South and Southeast Asia, quickly turned into a testy little episode in U.S.-China relations.

What she actually said, and in what context

Zacharia made the comment on a program hosted by the conservative commentator Jack Posobiec. Recalling the mood around 2016, she said everyone was being told Hillary Clinton would win — "the golden days or the glory days of America were over. That China was on the horizon." Then she added: "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.'" The interview aired on her fourth day in the job, two days after her first White House briefing.

Beijing's answer: come and see for yourself

Rather than fire back, Beijing answered with a near-joke. Asked about the remarks at a regular briefing on Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said: "We welcome her to visit China more often when she has the opportunity." AFP noted that Mao was fighting back a smile as she delivered the line — a detail several news organizations preserved. The reply neither escalated the spat nor let the jab pass.

She has worked in Beijing before

Zacharia is not a stranger to China. After graduating from Pepperdine University's law school in California in 2011, she moved to the country with her husband, who was working for an American private equity firm, and worked at Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing until 2013, according to her LinkedIn profile. Zhong Lun is one of China's largest firms; a Shanghai-based partner there told The New York Times that the firm regularly hires foreign nationals for language assistance and that "they are not practising Chinese law at any time," describing her role as likely resembling a paid internship.

Why Beijing chose a shrug

Beijing's restraint has a timetable. President Donald Trump is expected in Shenzhen for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' meeting on Nov. 17-19, where he is due to meet Xi Jinping, and the two sides' trade truce lapses on Jan. 10 — the same truce both governments are trying to extend. Escalating a fight over a toilet remark offers no upside in that window and could complicate the summit. Bloomberg framed the remarks as likely to invite more scrutiny of the newly appointed chief spokesperson.

The ledger on China's toilets

The claim is hard to sustain, at least for a city like Shenzhen. According to figures cited from the People's Daily Shenzhen edition, the city has more than 4,500 public toilets, 3,965 of them newly built or upgraded since 2017. Nationally, China launched a "toilet revolution" in 2015; the culture and tourism ministry's party leadership group put the number of newly built or renovated tourist toilets at some 150,000 in Qiushi magazine in October 2024. In rural areas, a study drawing on a 2023 household survey across eastern, central and western China found about 86% of sampled households used flush toilets, while roughly 25% of rural households nationwide were still counted as non-users. On service details, Luoyang's urban management bureau said all 183 of its 24-hour public toilets provide free paper. Gaps between cities and the countryside, and between scenic sites and roadside facilities, do remain.

Her credentials are under scrutiny too

The toilet comment is not her only problem. This week she was reported not to have passed a bar exam: Fox News host Sean Hannity asked her, "You went to Pepperdine Law School but you did not pass the bar exam, correct?" — and she answered "Correct." The Wall Street Journal reported she failed the California bar in 2011, the year she graduated. Asked earlier which state had admitted her to practice, she twice replied, "When I moved to China." A watchdog filed a complaint with the State Bar of California on Wednesday. White House communications director Steven Cheung defended her, calling her "uniquely qualified." Her debut briefing on Oct. 13 lasted about 14 minutes, took questions from only three outlets, and included a slip in which she referred to the president as her husband.

Who is affected, from podium to summit

Two things take the hit: the credibility of the White House press operation, whose new spokesperson is simultaneously explaining her professional credentials and cleaning up an offhand remark, and the already fragile U.S.-China communications channel in the sensitive run-up to a leaders' meeting. The episode also puts a more substantive question on the table — who gets to judge a country's infrastructure, and with what numbers.

Three things to watch next

First, whether the White House issues a formal response or lets Zacharia clarify on her own. Second, whether she travels to China with Trump next month — Beijing's "invitation" has effectively turned the line into a public commitment it can hold her to. Third, whether the Shenzhen APEC meeting in mid-November and the trade-truce talks before Jan. 10 are disturbed by any of this. On the evidence so far, it reads more like an interlude than a turning point.