Consulate closure: China warns US

REACTION: BEIJING CALLS IT POLITICAL PROVOCATION

US Secretary of State urges ‘entire world’ to stand up to China this week.

Beijing

The US has ordered China to close its Houston consulate, Beijing said yesterday, marking a dramatic escalation in diplomatic tensions between the feuding superpowers.

The move comes as the world’s two biggest economies have crossed swords on a number of fronts, from trade to Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus and its policies in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and the South China Sea.

“China urges the US to immediately withdraw its wrong decision, or China will definitely take a proper and necessary response,” said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, adding Beijing was told on Tuesday the consulate would have to close.

“It is a political provocation unilaterally launched by the US side,” Wang said.

He added the “outrageous and unjustified move will sabotage China-US relations”.

According to media in Houston, firefighters and police were called to the consulate on Tuesday night on reports documents were being burned in its courtyard. The Houston police said smoke was observed, but officers “were not granted access to the building”.

The Chinese Consulate in Houston was opened in 1979 – the first in the year the US and the People’s Republic of China established diplomatic relations, according to its website. There are five Chinese consulates in the US and an embassy in Washington.

President Donald Trump’s administration has upped pressure on China on a wide range of issues, imposing sanctions on

Chinese officials over policies in Tibet and Xinjiang.

The United States has led denunciations of the treatment of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, a far west region where an estimated one million Uighurs and other ethnic groups are believed to have been held in re-education camps.

The US also downgraded relations with Hong Kong after China implemented a new security law which it says is in violation of its promises of autonomy for the territory.

In addition, last week Washington formally declared Beijing’s pursuit of territory and resources in South China Sea as illegal. Washington has also banned telecom giant Huawei and sought the extradition from Canada of top company executive Meng Wanzhou.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday urged the “entire world” to stand up to China. –