China evens score with demand

BEIJING — China ordered the United States on Friday to close its consulate in the western city of Chengdu, ratcheting up a diplomatic conflict at a time when relations have sunk to their lowest level in decades.

The move was a response to the Trump administration’s order this week to Beijing to close its consulate in Houston after Washington accused Chinese agents of trying to steal medical and other research in Texas.

China appealed to Washington to reverse its “wrong decision,” and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the current difficulties are completely created by the U.S. side.

Chinese-u.s. relations have soured amid a mounting array of conflicts, including trade, the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, technology, spying accusations, Hong Kong and allegations of abuses against Chinese Muslims.

“The measure taken by China is a legitimate and necessary response to the unjustified act by the United States,” said a foreign ministry representative, Wang Wenbin. “The current situation in Chinese-u.s. relations is not what China desires to see. The United States is responsible for all this.”

Also on Friday, the U.S. State Department sent out a notice warning

Americans in China of a “heightened risk of arbitrary detention.”

“U.S. citizens may be subjected to prolonged interrogations and extended detention for reasons related to ‘state security,’” the notice said.

Americans may be detained or deported for “sending private electronic messages critical” of the Chinese government, it said. The notice gave no indication of what prompted the warning.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration ordered the Houston consulate closed within 72 hours. It alleged Chinese agents tried to steal data from facilities including the Texas A&M medical system.

The consulate in Chengdu is responsible for monitoring Tibet and other areas in the southwest inhabited by nonethnic Chinese minorities that are considered especially sensitive by Beijing.

“Alongside the eviction of the Houston Chinese Consulate, the risk of the U.s.-china conflict escalating into a ‘Cold War’ is worrying,” Hayaki Narita of Mizuho Bank said in a report.