Beijing
Chinese authorities took over the premises of the U.S. consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu on Monday, China’s foreign ministry announced, in retaliation for the United States’ closure of China’s Houston consulate.
The seizure capped a dramatic escalation in tensions between the world’s two biggest economies that began when employees at China’s Houston consulate were seen burning documents in a courtyard last Tuesday (July 21), hours before Beijing announced that it had been ordered to leave the facility.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that the closure of the Chengdu consulate and takeover of premises were “just and necessary reactions”.
On Friday (July 24), Beijing announced that it had asked the United States to close its Chengdu post, and gave the Americans 72 hours to vacate, the same amount of time China was given to leave its Houston mission, which was shut on Friday.
The American flag was lowered at the US consulate in Chengdu on Monday and Chinese authorities entered the building as Beijing carried out a Cold War-style retaliatory closure of the mission.
Relations have deteriorated in recent weeks in an intensifying standoff between Washington and Beijing, with the Chengdu mission ordered to shut in retaliation for the forced closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas.
Diplomatic tensions have soared between the two powers, with both alleging the other had endangered national security.
The Chengdu consulate covered southwest China, including Tibet. Many Tibetans accuse the central government of religious repression and eroding their culture.
Beijing says closing the consulate was a “legitimate and necessary response to the unreasonable measures by the United States”, and alleged that staff at the diplomatic mission endangered China’s security and interests.
Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters that some US staff in the Chengdu consulate “were engaged in activities outside of their capacity, interfered in China’s internal affairs, and endangered China’s security and interests”.
Tensions have soared between the world’s two biggest economic powers on a range of fronts including trade, China’s handling of coronavirus and a tough new security law imposed on Hong Kong, with US officials warning of a “new tyranny” from China.
The last Chinese diplomats left the Houston consulate on Friday. Beijing said Saturday that US agents “forcibly” entered the Houston consulate, which it said was “China’s national property”.
Its statement warned that “China will make a proper and necessary response in this regard”. It said the rising tensions could lead to “unprecedented catastrophe”.
