A statement from the Foreign Ministry said that US diplomats in China had been notified on Friday morning that Beijing was revoking the license for the Chengdu consulate in southwest China, which was ordered to “stop all business and activities”.
He added that the United States had “unilaterally caused the incident” by ordering the closure of the Houston office, an action that Beijing said “seriously violated international law and the basic rules of international relations.”
“The current situation between China and the United States is something that China does not want to see, and the responsibility falls entirely on the United States,” said the Foreign Ministry. “Once again, we urge the United States to immediately overturn the erroneous decision to create the necessary conditions for bilateral relations to return to normal.”
The United States Department of State could not immediately be reached for comment.
Retaliation
Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, is a major diplomatic outpost for the US, covering a large part of the country, including the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
Speaking to CNN before the announcement, James Green, a Chinese analyst in Georgetown and a former US diplomat, said that since Washington had recently moved to sanction Chinese officials for human rights abuses in Tibet, “shut down the Chengdu consulate may attract some. “
Observers had previously suggested that Beijing could order the closure of the US consulate in Wuhan, which is informally paired with Houston and the most recent in China. But diplomats have not been working from the consulate for several months, having evacuated early in the coronavirus pandemic. Attempts to return to work were hampered by China’s insistence that diplomats undergo coronavirus testing upon arrival, potentially exposing their DNA to Chinese security services, rather than providing a negative result.
Effectively, this means that two US consulates in China will soon be out of action, while the Chinese office in Houston is still operational as of Friday Beijing time, and the closing deadline is fast approaching. .
United States President Donald Trump suggested he could order the closure of more Chinese consulates, with some officials and the FBI linking diplomatic outposts to espionage and theft of intellectual property by China in the United States. .
Increasing tensions
China-US relations collapsed last year, amid an ongoing trade war, the coronavirus pandemic, and US criticism of China’s human rights abuses in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. .
“As President Trump has made very clear, we need a strategy that protects the American economy and, in fact, our way of life. The free world must triumph over this new tyranny,” said Pompeo. “The truth is that our policies, and those of other free nations, resurrected China’s bankrupt economy, only to see Beijing bite the international hands that fed it. We open our arms to Chinese citizens, just to see the Communist Party Chinese”. exploit our free and open society. “
The top American diplomat was recently in Europe, where he brought together the governments of the continent to take a harder line with Beijing.
His stance has made Pompeo a figure of hatred in China. In response to her Friday speech, Hua, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, accused Pompeo of “launching a new crusade against China in a globalized world.”
“What he is doing is as futile as an ant trying to shake a tree,” he added. “It is high time that all peace-loving people around the world step forward to prevent it from doing more harm to the world.”
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