US, China row escalates over closure of consulates

BEIJING/HOUSTON, (Reuters) - China yesterday ordered the United States to close its consulate in Chengdu in response to a U.S. order for China to shut its Houston consulate, where staff packed up belongings watched by jeering protesters amid a sharp deterioration in relations between the world’s two largest economies.

The order to close the consulate in Chengdu, a city in southwestern China, continued Beijing’s recent practice of like-for-like responses to Washington’s actions.

Beijing had threatened retaliation after the Trump administration gave it 72 hours - until 4 p.m. on Friday to vacate its consulate in the Texas city, and had urged Washington to reconsider.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday the consulate had been “a hub of spying and intellectual property theft” and Washington and its allies must use “more creative and assertive ways” to press the Chinese Communist Party to change its ways.

Shortly after a U.S. closure order for the mission took effect at 4 p.m., a group of men who appeared to be American officials were seen forcing open a back door of the Houston consulate.

The men did not respond when asked who they were by reporters. Earlier, the same group of men was seen padlocking a door on another side of the building.

After the men went inside, two uniformed members of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security arrived to guard the door. They also did not respond to questions.

A Reuters witness saw consulate staff exiting the building shortly after 4 p.m. and leaving in vehicles before the back door was forced open.

The Chinese embassy and the U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this activity.

Senior U.S. officials said earlier that activity by China’s diplomatic missions was occurring all over the country, but that out of the Houston consulate went well beyond what was acceptable.

A senior State Department official also linked espionage activity from that consulate to China’s pursuit of research into a vaccine for the new coronavirus.

About 100 Chinese activists gathered at the consulate on Friday, shouting slogans denouncing com

munism and heckling staff.

Some held American flags as they watched workers loading belongings from the five-story building into trucks.

Protesters cheered when a tractor trailer circled the building with giant signs that read: “Freedom from Communism,” and “God Bless America.”

Relations between Washington and Beijing have deteriorated this year to what experts say is their lowest level in decades over issues ranging from trade and technology to the coronavirus pandemic, China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and its clampdown on Hong

Kong.

China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said some personnel at the Chendu consulate were “conducting activities not in line with their identities,” had interfered in China’s affairs and harmed its security interests. He did not say how.

Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi, who is also foreign minister, blamed Washington for the deterioration in ties.

“The current difficult situation in SinoU.S. relations is entirely caused by the United States, and its goal is trying to interrupt China’s development,” Wang said in a video conversation with his German counterpart.