Beijing orders US consulate in Chengdu shut in tit-for-tat move
beijing — China ordered the United States to close its consulate in the city of Chengdu on Friday, responding to a US demand this week that China close its Houston consulate, as relations between the world’s two largest economies deteriorate.
The order to close the consulate in Chengdu, in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, was seen as roughly reciprocal in terms of scale and impact, continuing China’s recent practice of like-for-like responses to US actions.
China had warned it would retaliate after it was unexpectedly given 72 hours — until Friday — to vacate its Houston consulate, and had urged the United States to reconsider. “The US move seriously breached international law, the basic norms of international relations, and the terms of the China-US Consular Convention. It gravely harmed China-US relations,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China informed the US Embassy in China of its decision to withdraw its consent for the establishment and operation of the US Consulate General in Chengdu,” it said.
The US Department of State and the US embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to requests for comment. —
The US move seriously breached international law, the basic norms of international relations, and the terms of the China-US Consular Convention. Chinese foreign ministry
beijing — China on Friday ordered the US consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu to close in retaliation for one of its missions in the United States being shuttered, capping a furious week of Cold War-style diplomacy.
The announcement of the closure followed a torrent of warnings from top American officials about the “tyranny” of China, and Chinese nationals being indicted in the United States on various charges.
Ordering the Chengdu consulate to cease operation was a “legitimate and necessary response to the unreasonable measures by the United States”, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The current situation in China-US relations is not what China desires to see, and the US is responsible for all this.”
The ministry emphasised the closure was directly in response to the United States on Tuesday ordering the Chinese consulate in Houston to shut down.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this week the Houston mission was a “hub of spying and intellectual property theft”.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio called the consulate the “central node of the Communist Party’s vast network of spies and influence operations in the United States”.
China described the allegations as “malicious slander”.
The order on Houston came a day after the US Justice Department unveiled the indictment of two Chinese nationals for allegedly hacking hundreds of companies and attempting to steal coronavirus vaccine research.
The Justice Department then announced on Thursday indictments of four Chinese researchers it said lied about their ties to the People’s Liberation Army, with one escaping arrest by taking refuge in China’s San Francisco consulate.
The two nations have increasingly tussled over a plethora of issues, including China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and its efforts to quash a democracy
movement in Hong Kong.
But the US administration has ratcheted up the rhetoric and taken increasingly strong actions in recent weeks, which many observers have said is part of President Donald Trump’s strategy to win votes in the November elections.
“Today, China is increasingly authoritarian at home, and more aggressive in its hostility to freedom everywhere
else,” Pompeo, who has helped to leads Trump’s offensive, said on Thursday. “The free world must triumph over this new tyranny.”
The US has an embassy in Beijing as well as five consulates in mainland China, plus one in Hong Kong.
The Chengdu consulate, established in 1985, has been at the centre of past controversy. —
Today, China is increasingly authoritarian at home, and more aggressive in its hostility to freedom everywhere else.
Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State
The measure taken by China is a legitimate and necessary response to the unjustified act by the US.
Wang Wenbin
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson