A chartered commercial aircraft left Dulles airport outside
Washington for the South Korean capital, Seoul, where passengers would transfer to another aircraft outfitted for medical operations before flying to the Chinese city of Guangzhou.
The flight, only the second of many required to return more than 1,200 U.S.
diplomats with their families, was the first since negotiations hit an impasse two weeks ago over conditions
China wanted to impose on the Americans, prompting the State Department to postpone flights tentatively scheduled for the first 10 days of July.
The U.S. is working to fully restaff its mission in China, one of its largest in the world, which was evacuated in February because of COVID-19.