Amid heightened U.S.-Sino tensions, Miles Yu, an aide to the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his principal policy and planning adviser on China, has become the target of a hate campaign in China.

Yu was slammed for being a “hanjian”, meaning a traitor to the Chinese people, at his former home in Anhui province and his name was removed from his family tree, footage shows. A banner condemning Yu was hung on a wall, under which a man announced a list of Yu’s “crimes.” The video was reportedly filmed on Sep. 6.

Similar scenes took place in July this year. Footage shows workers chiseling his name out of a monument at his alma mater Yongchuan Middle School, where his name was inscribed on the wall for being the top scorer.

In a story published in June, Washington Times called Yu a “powerful behind-the-scenes force within the Trump administration reshaping U.S. policies toward China.”

David Stilwell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific affairs, described Yu as a “national treasure” and said he is most impressed by Yu’s encyclopedic knowledge of U.S. and Chinese doctrine. “His experience growing up under totalitarianism made him one of its most potent foes,” Matt Pottinger, Deputy National Security Adviser at the White House, told Washington Times.

Since the article was published, Yu has come under attack on Chinese social media, including being condemned as a traitor. Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of Beijing’s mouthpiece Global Times, lambasted him as a fake scholar and a political opportunist.

Yu was born in Anhui province and raised in Chongqing. He moved to America and became a U.S. citizen upon graduation from Nankai University with a degree in history. Before becoming an aide to Pompeo, Yu has taught in the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, where he specialized in China, East Asia and diplomatic history. The 58-year-old is now on detail duty at the U.S. Department of State.

Click here for Chinese version

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play