BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has told China to close its consulate in Houston, both countries said on Wednesday, further deteriorating bilateral ties, and a source said Beijing was considering shutting the U.S. consulate in Wuhan in retaliation.
Washington “abruptly demanded” closure of the Houston consulate on Tuesday, China’s foreign ministry said. The editor of an official media outlet said China had been given 72 hours to do so.
Beijing condemned the order and threatened retaliation, but did not say what measures it might take.
The State Department confirmed the decision and said the move was made “to protect American intellectual property and American’s private information.”
Speaking on a visit to Denmark, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offered no specifics, but repeated accusations about Chinese theft of U.S. and European intellectual property, which he said were costing “hundreds of thousands of jobs.”
“President Trump has said enough – we are not going to allow this to continue to happen,” he told a news conference.
“We are setting out clear expectations for how the Chinese Communist party is going to behave. And when they don’t, we are going to take action to protect the American people, protect our national security and also protect our economy and jobs.
“That’s the actions that you’re seeing taken by President Trump, we’ll continue to engage in this,” Pompeo said.
Ties between the United States and China have worsened sharply this year over a range of issues, from the novel coronavirus and telecoms gear maker Huawei to China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and its imposition of a new security law on Hong Kong.
The deterioration comes in the run-up to the November U.S. presidential election, in which President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden have appeared to compete over who can look tougher in response to China.
Late on Tuesday in Houston, local media reported that documents had been burned in a courtyard at the consulate. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the consulate was operating normally, declining to comment further on those reports.
“The United States will not tolerate the PRC’s violations of our sovereignty 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,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement, using an acronym for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.
