China on Friday ordered the U.S. consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu to close in retaliation for one of its missions in the United States being shuttered, capping a furious week of Cold War-style diplomacy.
The announcement of the closure followed a torrent of warnings from top American officials about the “tyranny” of China, and Chinese nationals being indicted in the U.S. on various charges.
Ordering the Chengdu consulate to cease operation was a “legitimate and necessary response to the unreasonable measures by the United States”, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“The current situation in China-U.S. relations is not what China desires to see, and the U.S. is responsible for all this,” it said without saying when it would have to shut down.
The Ministry emphasised the closure was directly in response to the U.S. ordering the Chinese consulate in Houston to shut down by Friday.
‘Endangering security’
Some consulate staff “were engaged in activities outside of their capacity, interfered in China’s internal affairs, and endangered China’s security and interests,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this week the Houston mission was a “hub of spying and intellectual property theft”. China described the allegations as “malicious slander”.
The order on Houston came a day after the U.S. Justice Department unveiled the indictment of two Chinese nationals for allegedly hacking hundreds of companies and attempting to steal coronavirus vaccine research. The Justice Department then announced on Thursday indictments of four Chinese researchers it said lied about their ties to the People’s Liberation Army, with one escaping arrest by taking refuge in China’s San Francisco consulate.
In a video call with his German counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China still hopes to have mutually respectful cooperation with the U.S. but stands ready to firmly safeguard its national sovereignty and dignity.
“China will not follow the U.S.’s dance, but will also never tolerate the U.S.’s reckless behaviour,” he said.
The U.S. has an Embassy in Beijing as well as five consulates in mainland China, plus one in Hong Kong.
The Chengdu consulate, established in 1985, covers the troublesome region of Tibet and has been at the centre of past controversy.
In 2013, China demanded the U.S. provide an explanation for a spying programme after news reports said a top-secret map leaked by fugitive intelligence analyst Edward Snowden showed surveillance facilities at Americans embassies and consulates worldwide — with the Chengdu consulate among them.
