(Newswire.net— July 23, 2020) — The US government has given China a deadline to close their consulate in Houston in the state of Texas by Friday, which official Beijing assessed as a “political provocation”, Russia Today reports.
The State Department said the decision was made with the goal of “preserving American intellectual property.”
Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said the move was “unheard of and unjustified.”
Both statements were issued after unknown persons were filmed burning papers in garbage cans in the consulate yard.
The closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston followed shortly after the news of the announcement of the American indictment against two men accused of spying on the American development of the vaccine based on the order of the Chinese intelligence services. It is not known if the two incidents are related. But it is clear that the Trump administration has decided to call out Beijing even louder.
In the middle of the campaign for the re-election of the president, while the American economy and society were strongly affected by the coronavirus pandemic, Trump concluded that there is a political advantage in playing the Chinese card.
It is hard to imagine how Beijing could avoid a similar response. There is now a danger of a chain eye-to-eye battle, partly motivated by American domestic goals, which may further aggravate the already complex tension between America and China.
The Chinese authorities announced that the American decision is unprecedented and that it violates international law.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Washington was “shifting the blame to China for unjustified attacks.”
He appealed to America to reconsider the decision and added that if they stay with it, “Now they are going the wrong way, and China is ready to introduce countermeasures.”
Mr. Wenbin stressed that America has many more employees in diplomatic and consular missions in China.
The Chinese state newspaper The Global Times even opened a poll on their site in which visitors could vote on which American consulate should be closed in response to Washington’s move.