China has ordered the United States to close its General Consul in Chengdu, in the southwest province of Sichuan, in response to Washington’s closure of its mission in Houston, Texas.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has communicated that it has informed the United States Embassy in the Asian country of its decision on Friday. Likewise, it has indicated specific requirements on the cessation of all operations and events by the Consulate General, as reported by the newspaper ‘Global Times’.
According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the current situation between the two countries is not desirable for the Asian country and it has “entirely” delegated responsibility to the United States. “We urge the United States again to immediately reverse its erroneous decision and create the necessary conditions for the return of bilateral relations to normality,” he detailed.
The United States gave China 72 hours to close its consulate in Houston, arguing that there is an “imbalance” in bilateral relations and justifying that the measure is to protect “the intellectual property” and “private information” of the country. For its part, Beijing considered it a “political provocation” and threatened Washington with “countermeasures.”
China and the United States have spent years in an escalation of tension that ranges from the trade war to the restrictions on journalists and the media, although in recent months it has exploded on account of the coronavirus pandemic, for which Washington directly blames Beijing.
