Fuelling the already tense situations between the two superpowers, the United States has called for the closure of China’s consulate in Houston on the basis of spying and trying to invade the private data of the country. The move is expected to drastically damage the diplomatic relationships shared by the two feuding nations.
Morgan Ortagus, the spokesperson for the US Department of State, said on Wednesday that Washington’s firm step has been taken “in order to protect American intellectual property and Americans’ private information”.
She added that under the Vienna Convention states “have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs” of the receiving state. However, no further details were furnished in the press conference.
A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry told Beijing that the US has allotted China a span of three days to close its Houston office, beyond which no more time will be provided for it to remain open. Wang Wenbin termed the sudden move an “unprecedented escalation” of US’s previous steps.
“The unilateral closure of China’s consulate general in Houston within a short period of time is an unprecedented escalation of its recent actions against China,” he told a regular news briefing.
Expressing China’s plans of a strict retaliatory measure if the order isn’t withdrawn, Wang continued saying, “We urge the US to immediately revoke this erroneous decision. Should it insist on going down this wrong path, China will react with firm countermeasures.”
He made the use of words like “China’s strong condemn” and “outrageous and unjustified move”, adding that this will “sabotage China-US relations.”
“It is a political provocation unilaterally launched by the US side, which seriously violates international law… and the bilateral consular agreement between China and the US,” Wang said.
Before the US announced the order for closing Chinese consulate in Houston, firefighters and police officials were called in at the site to inspect on reports which mentioned that documents were being burnt in the building’s courtyard on Tuesday evening.
However, the police later said that although fumes of smoke could be noticed, they weren’t allowed inside the premises.
This closure will mark the continuation of the grim ties between the two countries resulting from issues including trade to the coronavirus pandemic and China’s policies in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and South China Sea. Earlier, Trump had also called out China on the forced indoctrination camps for the Uyghur.
The leading problem remains the accusation of US on China of stealing its intellectual property which the latter has straight up denied. However, China agreed to look into a few complaints of the US during the first phase of a trade deal signed by both nations in January this year.
This commitment of China ensures the elimination of mandatory transfer of technology by foreign business houses to Chinese firms in order to receive market access.
Currently, US houses five Chinese consulates, including one in Florida, along with an embassy in Washington. The one in the question was established in 1979. According to its website, this was the year when the US and the People’s Republic of China created diplomatic relations. While US consulates are present in China’s Shanghai, Chengdu, Shenyang, Guangzhou and Wuhan as well, its embassy is in Beijing.
Wenbin said the consulate was operating normally but did not reply to questions about US media reports in Houston on Tuesday night that documents were being burned in a courtyard at the consulate.
As a counter measure, its state-run service, Global Times, in its poll, asked people to vote for one US consulate in China which should be closed, including the Hong Kong office. The tabloid created the poll as Twitter is banned in the country.
The order to close the Houston consulate came the same day that the US Justice Department indicted two Chinese nationals for seeking to steal coronavirus vaccine research.
