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China orders U.S. Chengdu consulate shut; protesters jeer Houston closure

Published 07/24/2020, 12:19 AM
Updated 07/24/2020, 10:36 PM
© Reuters. Defense Secretary James Mattis welcomes Chinese Minister of National Defense Gen. Wei Fenghe to the Pentagon

© Reuters. Defense Secretary James Mattis welcomes Chinese Minister of National Defense Gen. Wei Fenghe to the Pentagon

By Yew Lun Tian and Gary McWilliams

BEIJING/HOUSTON (Reuters) - China on Friday ordered the United States to close its consulate in Chengdu in response to a U.S. order for China to shut its Houston consulate, where staff packed up belongings watched by jeering protesters amid a sharp deterioration in relations between the world's two largest economies.

The order to close the consulate in Chengdu, a city in southwestern China, continued Beijing's recent practice of like-for-like responses to Washington's actions.

Beijing had threatened retaliation after the Trump administration gave it 72 hours - until 4 p.m. on Friday - to vacate its consulate in the Texas city, and had urged Washington to reconsider.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday the consulate had been "a hub of spying and intellectual property theft" and Washington and its allies must use "more creative and assertive ways" to press the Chinese Communist Party to change its ways.

Shortly after a U.S. closure order for the mission took effect at 4 p.m., a group of men who appeared to be American officials were seen forcing open a back door of the Houston consulate.

The men did not respond when asked who they were by reporters. Earlier, the same group of men was seen padlocking a door on another side of the building.

After the men went inside, two uniformed members of the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security arrived to guard the door. They also did not respond to questions.

A Reuters witness saw consulate staff exiting the building shortly after 4 p.m. and leaving in vehicles before the back door was forced open.

The Chinese embassy and the U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this activity.

Senior U.S. officials said earlier that activity by China's diplomatic missions was occurring all over the country, but that out of the Houston consulate went well beyond what was acceptable.

A senior State Department official also linked espionage activity from that consulate to China's pursuit of research into a vaccine for the new coronavirus.

About 100 Chinese activists gathered at the consulate on Friday, shouting slogans denouncing communism and heckling staff.

Some held American flags as they watched workers loading belongings from the five-story building into trucks.

Protesters cheered when a tractor trailer circled the building with giant signs that read: "Freedom from Communism," and "God Bless America."

Relations between Washington and Beijing have deteriorated this year to what experts say is their lowest level in decades over issues ranging from trade and technology to the coronavirus pandemic, China's territorial claims in the South China Sea and its clampdown on Hong Kong.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said some personnel at the Chendu consulate were "conducting activities not in line with their identities," had interfered in China's affairs and harmed its security interests. He did not say how.

Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi, who is also foreign minister, blamed Washington for the deterioration in ties.

"The current difficult situation in Sino-U.S. relations is entirely caused by the United States, and its goal is trying to interrupt China's development," Wang said in a video conversation with his German counterpart.

CHINESE RESEARCHER IN U.S. CUSTODY

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration said the closing of the Houston consulate was aimed at protecting American intellectual property and personal information.

"We urge the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) to cease these malign actions rather than engage in tit-for-tat retaliation," said John Ullyot, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council.

In a related case, a senior U.S. Justice Department official said a Chinese researcher who took refuge at China's consulate in San Francisco was taken into American custody on Thursday.

He said Juan Tang was part of a network of associates who concealed their military affiliation when applying for visas.

The U.S. consulate in Chengdu was given 72 hours to close, or until 10 a.m. on Monday, the editor of China's Global Times tabloid said on Twitter.

The consulate opened in 1985 and has almost 200 employees, including about 150 locally hired staff, according to its website. It was not immediately clear how many are there now after U.S. diplomats were evacuated from China because of the pandemic.

Global share markets fell after the announcement, led by a heavy drop in Chinese blue chips, which fell 4.4%, while the yuan hit a two-week low. [MKTS/GLOB]

Wall Street retreated, heading into the weekend with a broad sell-off due to weak earnings, surging coronavirus cases and concerns about U.S.-China ties. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI ended down 182.44 points, or 0.68%, at 26,469.89.

A source had told Reuters China was considering shutting the U.S. consulate in Wuhan, where Washington withdrew staff as the coronavirus outbreak raged.

"The Chengdu consulate is more important than the Wuhan consulate because that is where the U.S. gathers information about Tibet and China's development of strategic weapons in neighboring regions," said Wu Xinbo, an American studies expert at Shanghai's Fudan University.

Chengdu was less important though for economic activity than U.S. consulates in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

Jonathan Pollack of the Brookings Institution think tank said Chengdu was the only U.S. consulate deep in China's interior and closing it would also affect Washington's ability to monitor the Sino-Indian border and other sensitive locations, including Xinjiang.

However, he noted that China's foreign ministry had avoided the sort of "trash talking" of some recent U.S. statements.

© Reuters. U.S. Consulate General in Chengdu

"The real question now is whether the events of the past few days are a one off, or a precursor of other steps the U.S. or China might undertake that would entail even larger dangers and risks in U.S.-China relations," he said.

Latest comments

this is going to affect American economy, they need reform their economic due to Lockdown and pandemic
politics need to replace by something else
Trump in big difficultly for elections choose the strategy of chaos. The priority NOW is Covid and recovery not the fight.
A lot of pompeo workers here
May be this is a mutually agreed plan for some selfish motive..something really big.. Be prepared for a surprise in a few months
wake me up when they both actually fires a nuke at each other. dare you guys.
Who was that important person of 80 years ago who said, America Needs An Enemy Constantly To Thrive.?
sounds like founder of Lockheed Martin.
70 Soviet Union80 JapanCurrently...
Not jeering! 😲
Oh no, what will they do without Chengdu!!! It's not like China has anything worth stealing. Unless it's their "gold" that stuff is real valuable.
Indian R Sam are Gold diggers people know that.
freedom to eat dogs
we are fine David. quit spreading fear. just sit back and relax. time is the teller of truth and you nutz are going to realize just how crazy you are thinking
And Jeremy is a Trump Spammer. No need label people. Go and argue with facts
Or maybe you will get the virus, end up in hospital with your whole family and whne you cant breathe and when you cant see them at the brink of death by no oxygenation, you realize how wrong you were
We are so screwed...6 months later and still we just begun recommending masks, not mandatory yet. And still no app tracing, no temp. check, and people do as they wish, while Trump said we are doing the best of all nations. Meanwhile Pompeo goes around the world and lies.
It’s a shame that 5 months ago Pelosi was in Chinatown downplaying the WuFlu when she sould have been touting mandatory masks, tracing, temp checks. I’m sure that was going to be your next comment. 😄
Stop fighting please! otherwise, the outbreak will be the winner.
Well the only way out of this depression is war...get ready, its about to go down
comprar (zm) comprar(zm)
Vote Trump out already. He was never fit for office.
let me tell you what will they do to keep this market up next week: some half ********news about "stimulus hopes" or "vaccine hopes" :D
Trump wins lot of votes from this thing, he is targeting biden voters by making trade war with the chinese
cold war rather, and soon to be hot war. Trumpiee will do anything for power if it means ruination for America so be it
while china is at a disadvantage, they still have more nukes than US has missle defense. go figure
...1/3 of them will ******up in thier silos. 1/3 of the rest will never make thier target due to faulty hardware. That leaves 1/3 for missle defense to destroy. Most Chinese missle sites are already targeted and will be destroyed within 20 minutes of zero hour.
Wonder why this article leaves out the fact that China consulate in Houston burned all their papers in the evening a few nights ago . A psserby saw smoke billowing out of building and called the firedept. Chinese refused to let fireman into the building. Fire serious enough, It needed a ladder truck. Report said that consul. A known sp.y locale.
will us consulate allow Chinese firefighters?
Lol another baseless claim
no more vir(US) in civilized countries, the rest will be banned for as long as it takes, sounds fair
We should get back to having separate countries it gives people more choices. Globalism was a bad idea. I apologize for infecting your country with Hollyweird (im)moral values.
Mr Trump China is not angel we know and we should be strong. BUT it'really not a good idea to declare the war NOW !! Usa needs to recovery before !!
 The only think I know : NOW is not a good time/
False. War destroys wealth and the source of wealth. Rich or poor property is destroyed either directly ir indirectly through inflation and purchasing power. WWII almost halved the wealth of the worlds richest people...from which they did not recover until the mid-1960’s. No one benefits...
 Well said, but what if you have a leader that is willing to risk everything including lives for reelection?
Both will not withdraw, then Trade war?
When trase war starts, US looks like winner at the first stage, but both of them will bleeding heavily and market is collasped surely.
you are right. maybe a strategy of Trump. bad forecasts for the elections
China has to go down for the crime they committed across world, by releasing Chinese Virus!! they have to pay the price.  Boycott Chinese product!! its only way to stop China
Nice one Jack. Accuse the other side of the tactics you employ. That way you Alinskyites can pretend everyone uses tactics as shameful as the ones you employ. I just realized I may have just responded to an actual bot.
Rob, didn't you realize that I copied your words, simply?
Yeah, why not start with you first, make sure you don't use or possess ANYTHING that was made in China, including Apple, 3M, automobiles parts, etc etc. If you think globalization is to be blamed, you should just go and hide somewhere deep inside Amazon jungle.
I told you guys...China is Lion. When the China Lion Roars, worldwide markets sees red across the board.
u have access to u.s. website from china? incesting.xom not blocked by great firewall??
Only White H/.ouse with its puppet media told you it Was blocked. Lmao
it is not for the 5c army.
So, buy Short ~ ppl here are supposed to make money from this *******market.
Yeh..don't tell me that u were expecting China opening a new US consulate in response
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