The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that it is revoking the license for the United States Consulate General in the city of Chengdu, southwest China.
The ministry also ordered the consulate general to cease operations, according to an online statement.
“The current situation between China and the United States is something the Chinese side does not want to see,” the Foreign Ministry said in an online statement in Chinese, according to a CNBC translation.
“The responsibility falls entirely on the US side,” the statement added. “We again urge the US side to immediately reverse its relevant wrong decisions, to create the necessary conditions for the relationship of the two countries to return to normal.”
The announcement comes after the United States ordered China to close its consulate in Houston. United States State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus said the directive to close the Chinese consulate general in Houston was made to protect American intellectual property and the private information of its citizens. Beijing had condemned the decision and warned of firm countermeasures.
The Chengdu Consular District covers the controversial Tibet Autonomous Region, Chongqing Municipality, and Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces, according to the consulate’s website.
The consulate, which was established in 1985, is one of only five that the United States has in mainland China, in addition to the embassy in Beijing.
According to the consular website, about three-quarters of the Chengdu consulate staff of about 200 people are Chinese.
This is breaking news. Please check for updates.
– CNBC’s Sam Meredith contributed to this report.
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