U.S. Asks China To Close Its Consulate In Houston

The United States has asked China to close its Consulate General in Houston within 72 hours.

“We have directed the closure of PRC (People’s Republic of China) Consulate General Houston, in order to protect American intellectual property and American’s private information,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus told reporters during Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Danish capital Copenhagen.

“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 behaviour,” she added.

Beijing condemned the move and warned of retaliation unless the U.S. immediately corrects its mistakes.

“It is a political provocation unilaterally launched by the U.S. side, which seriously violates international law, basic norms governing international relations and the bilateral consular agreement between China and the U.S.,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at the regular briefing on Wednesday.

“China strongly condemns such an outrageous and unjustified move which will sabotage China-US relations. We urge the U.S. to immediately withdraw its erroneous decision, otherwise, China will make legitimate and necessary reactions,” he told reporters.

Washington on Tuesday had accused Beijing of hacking U.S. labs developing Covid-19 vaccines.

U.S. media reported that documents were burning in a container within the courtyard of the Chinese consulate facility in Houston on Tuesday night.

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