US orders China to close consulate in Houston
China vowed to retaliate Wednesday after the United States ordered the closure of its consulate in Houston, a move that further inflamed tensions between the two superpowers.
Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, said China was notified on Tuesday that it must close the consulate within 72 hours. In a regular daily news briefing, he described the action as an “unprecedented escalation” and said China would “react with firm countermeasures” if the U.S. does not revoke the decision.
State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a statement that the closure was “to protect American intellectual property and American’s private information.”
“The United States will not tolerate the (People’s Republican of China’s) violations of our sovereignty and intimidation of our people,” Ortagus said. It is unusual but not unprecedented for the U.S. to close another country’s consulate.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined to explain what triggered the decision when pressed during a news briefing in Copenhagen, where he was meeting with Danish officials. But he raised long-standing U.S. accusations that China’s government is stealing American intellectual property.
He also brought up the Department of Justice’s indictment Tuesday of two
Chinese hackers charged with stealing trade secrets from hundreds of global targets and, more recently, probing for vulnerabilities in U.S. companies involved in the development of COVID-19 treatments and vaccines.
“President Trump has said, ‘enough,’ ” Pompeo said. “We’re not going to allow this to continue to happen.”
Pompeo did not elaborate on the allegations of spying over treatments and vaccines, nor did he say whether the closure of the Houston consulate had anything to do with that case.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a tweet that “#China’s Houston consulate is a massive spy center” and added that “forcing it to close is long overdue.”