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US-China relations
ChinaDiplomacy

US lawmakers raise concerns about Chinese national ballet performance in Washington

Politicians say National Ballet of China performance at Kennedy Centre is part of the Communist Party’s political machinery’

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The National Ballet of China performs The Chinese New Year, a version of The Nutcracker, with children from the US at the Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington on January 29. Photo: Xinhua
Khushboo Razdanin Washington

Two US lawmakers, including the chairman of a hawkish congressional committee, are raising concerns about the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts’ decision to host the National Ballet of China, accusing the dance company of being a tool of China’s “political machinery”.

They are urging the cultural institution to reconsider its ties with the Chinese ballet company.

Representatives Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, and John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the House select committee on China, sent a letter this week to Kennedy Centre chairman David Rubenstein and president Deborah Rutter regarding the NBC performances, which are scheduled from January 29 to February 2 in Washington as part of Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations.
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The letter, dated January 24, accused the NBC of being “controlled by the Chinese Communist Party” and stated that art in China was “a political instrument” used to disseminate propaganda abroad.

“While presenting a friendly facade to the American public via the ballet, this regime is actively persecuting writers, artists and other creative talents who dissent from the party line,” the lawmakers wrote.

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