Attack on US Senator Mitch McConnell’s wife triggers China race row

Aides to top Republican US Senator Mitch McConnell voiced outrage on Tuesday after a left-leaning group suggested that he supported China over the United States due to his Taiwan-born wife.

McConnell, who faces re-election next year, is married to former labour secretary Elaine Chao. She was born in Taiwan to parents who fled mainland China and immigrated to the United States as a child.

Progress Kentucky, a pressure group opposed to McConnell, posted a message on Twitter that noted that the Senate Republican leader was married to Chao and quipped, “May explain why your job moved to China!”

The group also linked to a press release in which China’s Premier Wen Jiabao thanked Chao’s father, businessman James Chao, for business deals that helped benefit the Asian economy’s shipbuilding industry.

Jesse Benton, a spokesman for McConnell’s re-election campaign, called Elaine Chao and her family “shining examples of the American Dream” who came to the United States with little and built successful businesses.

“It is unconscionable that anyone would use blatant race-baiting for political gain,” Benton said in a statement.