U.S. Ouster of 2 Chinese Envoys a ‘Frame-Up,’ Beijing Charges

China asserted Thursday that the expulsion of two of its diplomats from the United States on spying charges was a “frame-up” and said it had protested the move and would consider “further reaction.” It did not indicate what that reaction might be.

The State Department said Wednesday that the Chinese Embassy in Washington was told Dec. 22 to arrange the departure of two diplomats because they were engaged in activities “incompatible with their diplomatic status,” a phrase often used in cases where diplomats are caught in espionage.

The Washington Times reported that the diplomats, including an assistant military attache, were arrested after one of them received what were purportedly classified U.S. National Security Agency documents.

‘Strong Protest’

“The charge laid by the U.S. side is a frame-up against the Chinese diplomats in the United States,” a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“We have lodged a strong protest with the U.S. side against such action and reserve the right to make further reaction.”

In Washington, the Administration sought to play down the controversy, saying it would not respond publicly to China’s charge that the envoys were framed.

“We have received a protest from the Chinese,” said State Department spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley. “I’m not aware that there has been a response. . . . I understand that they have protested both in Peking and in Washington.”

Comment Withheld

Asked if the United States had rejected the Chinese accusation that the two diplomats were framed, Oakley said: “I’m not commenting on our diplomatic exchanges. I simply stated that we had received a protest.”

The Chinese Embassy in Washington has denied that any of its personnel left the United States on orders of the State Department, but an embassy spokesman said that Hou Desheng, an assistant military attache, and Zhang Weichu, a consular officer based in Chicago, left for home “after finishing their tenure in the United States.”

The controversy followed other recent strains in U.S.-Chinese relations, including criticism in Congress of China’s human rights record in Tibet.