“If we cannot resolve our differences, please shut up,” he said during a private Zoom meeting hosted by the National Committee on United States–China Relations (NCUSCR) late last month.

Qin, who arrived in Washington in July, had just delivered a speech about the current state of bilateral ties to a small group that included NCUSCR’s board of directors. During the question-and-answer session that followed, Evan Medeiros, a Georgetown University professor who served as National Security Council director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia in the Obama administration, asked what steps the U.S. and China could each take to improve the bilateral relationship.

Qin, a former vice minister of foreign affairs and foreign ministry spokesman, first answered that Washington should stop worsening the situation in order to create conditions for dialogue. Then he uttered that undiplomatic line, which shocked meeting participants, according to a source familiar with the exchange.