How Chairman Mao once turned China's diplomats into sacrificial lambs

The Cultural Revolution did not stop for China's diplomats and Chinese journalists abroad. Mao and the CCP learned from Western sympathizers about the supposed bourgeois and opulent lifestyle of its envoys. A letter from the Austrian Marxist-Leninists pleased Mao in particular. The consequence: a third of all diplomatic service staff were ordered back to China and had to face criticism.