Former Trump adviser says China delayed visa to attend forum

A former U.S. defense official who served on the Trump transition team said on Wednesday he had been prevented from speaking at a forum in China after its embassy in Washington failed to approve his visa. Michael Pillsbury said he submitted a visa application on March 22 and it had not been granted in time for him to travel to Beijing for the April 14 event. “So, is this a subtle message of some kind, or just a mistake,” Pillsbury told Reuters, adding he was still “waiting patiently for my visa to be issued”. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he needed to look into the details of the situation, but in principle Chinese embassies handle visa applications in accordance with the law and China welcomed people-to-people exchanges with the United States.