Authorities have tightened security outside the United States consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu as US personnel prepared to leave, a day after China ordered to close in response to a US order that China close. its consulate in Houston.
The eye-for-an-eye closures represent a sharp deterioration in relations between the countries, which have the world’s two largest economies, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Saturday accused the United States of violating international and bilateral agreements.
The indictment comes shortly after a group of men who appeared to be US officials were seen forcing a back door to the Houston facility open after the shutdown order went into effect on Friday.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry promised to respond to the incident, but did not elaborate on how.
“As for the forced entry of the US side into the Chinese Consulate General’s facilities in Houston, China expresses strong dissatisfaction and determined opposition,” the ministry said in a statement. “China will provide an adequate and necessary response to this.”
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for his part, said the Houston consulate had been “a center for espionage and theft of intellectual property.”
In Chengdu on Saturday, viewers snapped photos outside the US consulate as police in T-shirts and surgical masks stood on the sidewalk and on the closed street in front of the walled compound.
The emblem of the US consulate within the complex was removed and staff could be seen moving. Three moving vans were later seen at the complex.
Plainclothes officers also arrested a man who tried to hold a sign near the consulate, according to the Reuters news agency, although it was unclear what the sign said.
Increasing tensions
The most recent mess occurs when relations between the two superpowers continue to deteriorate. Many experts consider the closure of the consulate “as a new minimum in relations between China and the United States, since both countries normalized diplomatic relations in the late 1970s,” said Andy Gallacher of Al Jazeera, reporting from Miami, Florida. .
Extensive tensions between the two countries have included US accusations that China is responsible for the coronavirus pandemic, the sanction of Chinese officials for the treatment of minority Muslim Uighurs, China’s imposition of a new security law. in Hong Kong and the continuing dispute over the South China Sea.
“If you only look at the month of July, you are tit for tat, you have the US government. Saying that China has no right to anything in the China Sea, which moves military ships to that region. There is a situation in Hong Kong also, “Gallacher said.
The Chengdu consulate, which turned itself in until 10 am (02:00 GMT) Monday to close, opened in 1985 and has nearly 200 employees, including about 150 locally recruited employees, according to its website. There are four other American consulates in mainland China.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said part of the Chengdu consulate staff was “carrying out activities that were not in line with their identities” and had interfered with Chinese affairs and harmed their interests in security. He did not say how.
Arrested investigators
In recent days, the United States Department of Justice has also accused the Chinese consulate in San Francisco of harboring a Chinese investigator accused of concealing her ties to the Chinese military in a visa application.
On Thursday, authorities announced charges against Juan Tang, 37, and three other Chinese scientists living in the United States.
The Justice Department said Tang lied in an application last October when he made plans to work at the University of California, Davis, and again during an interview with the FBI months later. Agents found photos of Tang dressed in a military uniform and reviewed items in China that identified her military affiliation.
Agents said they believe Tang sought refuge at the consulate after she was interviewed at her home in Davis City on June 20.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
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