Chinese and American national flags wave at the entrance to a company office building in Beijing.
Wang Zhao | AFP | fake pictures
The U.S. State Department confirmed Wednesday that it had ordered China to close its consulate in Houston, Texas, prompting Beijing to insist on firm countermeasures unless Washington immediately reversed its decision.
The move comes as political tensions between the world’s two largest economies continue to escalate.
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.
The Vienna Convention states that diplomats must “respect the laws and regulations of the receiving State” and “have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State,” Ortagus continued.
He added that Washington would not tolerate the People’s Republic of China’s violations of the sovereignty of the United States and intimidation of our people, just as we have not tolerated the PRC’s unfair trade practices, theft of American jobs and other egregious behavior. .
Since then, China has condemned the decision, warning of firm countermeasures if the United States cannot urgently rescind the order.
“The unilateral closure of the Chinese consulate general in Houston in a short period of time is an unprecedented escalation of its recent actions against China,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a daily news conference, reported Associated Press.
The United States has given China three days to close the consulate in Texas city, said a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Reports of a fire
KPRC, an NBC News affiliate in Houston, Texas, obtained video footage Tuesday of a resident near the Chinese consulate who appeared to show a small fire in the building’s courtyard.
Deputy Director Ruy Lozano of the Houston Fire Department confirmed to NBC that they had responded to a yard fire at 3400 Montrose Boulevard at the Chinese Consulate at 8:20 pm local time on Tuesday. Initial teams arrived at the scene and reported no visible flames or smoke, Lozano said.
Firefighters were denied access to the building because, according to an international agreement, access to the property can only be obtained with consent.
Lozano said firefighters remained outside the building’s structure until it was confirmed that there was no fire threat to the occupants and the surrounding community. He asked that questions about whether or not documents were burned within the consulate were referred to the State Department.
Diplomatic relations between the United States and China have reached their lowest point in years since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
President Donald Trump’s administration has frequently criticized China for the lack of transparency about the virus, where the outbreak began.
The United States has six consulates in mainland China, according to its website. They are in Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Wuhan.
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