Beijing tells U.S. to close consulate as relations sour
BEIJING — China ordered the closure of the U.S. consulate in Chengdu on Friday in retaliation for the U.S. shutdown of China’s consulate in Houston.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying the U.S. had “seriously breached international law” and that the Chinese move was a “legitimate and necessary response” that conformed to international law and norms.
“The current situation in ChinaU.S. relations is not what China desires to see, and the U.S. is responsible for all this,” the statement said. “We once again urge the U.S. to immediately retract its wrong decision and create necessary conditions for bringing the bilateral relationship back on track.”
It is the latest turn in a dizzying downward spiral in relations between the world’s two largest economies, once closely intertwined but now with their governments increasingly at odds. The countries have sparred in recent months over trade, tech, student and journalist visas, the coronavirus, human rights, Taiwan, Tibet, the South China Sea, Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
China’s decision came hours after a speech Thursday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in which he said the “engagement” policy that had defined U.S.China relations for the past 50 years — since President Nixon famously went to China — was over.
“We must admit a hard truth,” Pompeo said. “If we want to have a free 21st century, and not the Chinese century of which (Chinese President) Xi Jinping dreams, the old paradigm of blind engagement with China simply won’t get it done. We must not continue it and we must not return to it.”
The U.S. gave orders to the Chinese consulate in Houston on Tuesday to close by Friday. Pompeo said the Houston consulate was ordered to close because it was a “hub of spying and intellectual property theft.” The Associated Press reported that the Trump administration has alleged attempts by Chinese agents to steal data from facilities in Texas, including the Texas A&M medical system.
Pompeo’s speech evoked aggressive Cold War rhetoric, comparing China under the Chinese Communist Party to the Soviet Union and calling for an “alliance of democracies” to confront what he called Xi’s “decadeslong desire for global hegemony of Chinese communism.”
“We can’t treat this incarnation of China as a normal country, just like any other,” Pompeo said.