China orders U.S. to shut Chengdu consulate, retaliating for Houston

[snoop1130]

China orders U.S. to shut Chengdu consulate, retaliating for Houston

By Yew Lun Tian and Tony Munroe

 

U.S. and Chinese flags are seen before Defense Secretary James Mattis welcomes Chinese Minister of National Defense Gen. Wei Fenghe to the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., November 9, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/Files

 

BEIJING (Reuters) - China ordered the United States to close its consulate in the city of Chengdu on Friday, responding to a U.S. demand this week that China close its Houston consulate, as relations between the world's two largest economies deteriorate.

 

The order to close the consulate in Chengdu, in southwestern China's Sichuan province, was seen as roughly reciprocal in terms of scale and impact, continuing China's recent practice of like-for-like responses to U.S. actions.

 

China had warned it would retaliate after it was unexpectedly given 72 hours - until Friday - to vacate its Houston consulate, and had urged the United States to reconsider.

 

"The U.S. move seriously breached international law, the basic norms of international relations, and the terms of the China-U.S. Consular Convention. It gravely harmed China-U.S. relations," China's foreign ministry said in a statement.

 

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China informed the U.S. Embassy in China of its decision to withdraw its consent for the establishment and operation of the U.S. Consulate General in Chengdu," it said.

 

The U.S. Department of State and the U.S. embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

 

Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said some Chengdu consulate personnel were "conducting activities not in line with their identities" and had interfered in China's affairs and harmed China's security interests, but he did not say how.

 

The consulate was given 72 hours to close, or until 10 a.m. on Monday, the editor of the Global Times newspaper said on Twitter.

 

The consulate opened in 1985 and has almost 200 employees including about 150 locally hired staff, according to its website. It was not immediately clear how many are there now after a significant number of U.S. diplomats were evacuated from China during the early stages of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

 

Global share markets fell after the announcement, led by a heavy drop in Chinese blue chips, which fell 4.4%, while the yuan hit a two-week low.

 

The U.S. State Department warned American citizens in China of a greater risk of arbitrary law enforcement including detention and a ban on leaving, repeating a similar warning two weeks ago.

 

TROUBLED TIES

 

Relations between Washington and Beijing have deteriorated sharply this year over a range of issues, from trade and technology to the novel coronavirus, China's territorial claims in the South China Sea and its clampdown on Hong Kong.

 

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a speech on Thursday the United States and its allies must use "more creative and assertive ways" to press the Chinese Communist Party to change its ways, calling it the "mission of our time".

 

A source had previously told Reuters that China was considering shutting the U.S. consulate in Wuhan, where the United States withdrew staff early this year as the coronavirus outbreak raged.

 

A state newspaper editor had suggested that China could order a dramatic scale back of staff at the U.S. consulate in Hong Kong.

 

"The Chengdu consulate is more important than the Wuhan consulate because that is where the U.S. gathers information about Tibet and China's development of strategic weapons in neighbouring regions," said Wu Xinbo, a professor and American studies expert at Fudan University in Shanghai.

 

He said the Chengdu consulate was less important for trade and economic activity than U.S. consulates in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

 

The Chengdu consulate became notorious in 2012 when Wang Lijun, the police chief of nearby Chongqing city, attempted to defect there, a trigger point in a dramatic scandal that brought down rising political star Bo Xilai.

 

Chinese social media users, who had denounced the U.S. order to close the Houston mission, applauded the response.

 

The comment, "let's renovate it into a hotpot restaurant!", a reference to a popular dish in Chengdu, got 100,000 likes on the Weibo account of state broadcaster CCTV.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-07-24

 

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[elephant45]

So, why haven't they shut down Costco, Walmart and every other garbage supplier in the USA? That would be more effective.

[Puchaiyank]

53 minutes ago, elephant45 said:

So, why haven't they shut down Costco, Walmart and every other garbage supplier in the USA? That would be more effective.

What stores would you recommend Americans shop to get away from the garbage stores?

[Puchaiyank]

Score 30 - 30...America's serve!  BTW the entire international community is watching this tennis match...

[nattaya09]

Tit for tat over the next 100 days. If Trump is re-elected, China resumes chats like it never happened. If Biden is elected, they get some groveling and a formal, public apology and go back to their usual mischief

[GinBoy2]

10 hours ago, nattaya09 said:

Tit for tat over the next 100 days. If Trump is re-elected, China resumes chats like it never happened. If Biden is elected, they get some groveling and a formal, public apology and go back to their usual mischief

I actually don't think things are ever going to go back to business as before.

 

Biden has hardened his rhetoric on China. Trump's bromance with Xi is clearly over, and Western corporate interests have been shaken. Money has been moving out of HK to Singapore.

 

Western companies have been shaken on the disruption to their supply chains and seem to be aggressively looking to move manufacturing capacity out of China.

 

Now this could go either way.

 

For the West the reduction of China as a manufacturing base is a plus.

But it may conversely tweak the tail of the tiger, not least because the contract that the CCP has with the people is that so long as living standards get better they accept social repression, freedom of expression etc. If one side of that equation falters, there is a problem.

 

These are going to be interesting times 

 

I have no idea how this will work out

Edited July 24, 2020 by GinBoy2

[SkyFax]

Was China’s Houston Consulate Trying to Steal the Coronavirus Vaccine?  -- JULY 24, 2020, 2:09 PM

 

China may have been using its now-closed consulate in Houston as a base of operations for industrial espionage as it seeks to be the first to hit the market with a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, Trump administration officials indicated on Friday.

 

The Houston facility is near the largest medical complex in the world and a bevy of research universities and critical infrastructure projects. Officials said the consulate has been used at least 50 times in the past 10 years to help recruit members of the Thousand Talents Program, China’s effort to target top Chinese and foreign experts from around the world in cutting-edge fields to bring their skills back to Beijing.

 

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/07/24/china-houston-consulate-coronavirus-research-espionage

 

[PatOngo]

10 hours ago, Puchaiyank said:

Score 30 - 30...America's serve!  BTW the entire international community is watching this tennis match...

China has aced the world with it's filthy corona virus, they have a very good head start with WWIII....they are devastating  the world financially and the death toll is rising while they calmly sit back and say nothing!

[4MyEgo]

Obviously there isn't enough carnage around the world with Covid-19 at the moment, so why not create some more.

 

I mean is it so difficult to live in a harmonious world, if ever, I just don't get it, why do governments always seem to want to increase their influence and power over one and another ?

 

So over this BS from both current sides, I mean if you want it all, just start dropping nuc's on both sides and whoever comes out on top wins, personally, they'd both be doing me a favor, who knows, maybe others agree, seriously............now........time for my 1st coffee hit  ☕

Edited July 24, 2020 by 4MyEgo

[4MyEgo]

9 minutes ago, Canuck1966 said:

The CCP are a vicious vicious government 

Play-Doh Joe will roll over for them as the extremists that control him want to destroy America and turn it into a communist s**thole

Like I said

[Somtamnication]

The Yanks better empty the consulate quickly! Videos are out now of black suvs, locksmith van and agents breaking into the Houston Chinese consulate. lol

[Eric Loh]

13 minutes ago, Somtamnication said:

The Yanks better empty the consulate quickly! Videos are out now of black suvs, locksmith van and agents breaking into the Houston Chinese consulate. lol

The Chinese is giving the same 72 hours as the US gave to close the consulate. Will be quite a bonfire in Chengdu US consulate tonite. 

[DoctorG]

Nothing unexpected in this move. Only debate was with which consulate was going to be chosen by China.

[rvaviator]

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

Like I said

Yes we can all emerge victorious from that one ........

[4MyEgo]

38 minutes ago, rvaviator said:

Yes we can all emerge victorious from that one ........

Absolutely, viruses gone forever......

[kamahele]

No doubt China spies on the US as we do on the Chinese and if caught, something must be done about it but its hard to tell with the current US administration if there is ever any truth to what is said about their actions or if it is just a shiny object to catch the public's attention and divert attention away from covid.

[Isaan sailor]

4 hours ago, PatOngo said:

China has aced the world with it's filthy corona virus, they have a very good head start with WWIII....they are devastating  the world financially and the death toll is rising while they calmly sit back and say nothing!

Spot on perception.  Prefer to call the virus, Wuhan-19.

[TKDfella]

5 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

I actually don't think things are ever going to go back to business as before.

 

Biden has hardened his rhetoric on China. Trump's bromance with Xi is clearly over, and Western corporate interests have been shaken. Money has been moving out of HK to Singapore.

 

Western companies have been shaken on the disruption to their supply chains and seem to be aggressively looking to move manufacturing capacity out of China.

 

Now this could go either way.

 

For the West the reduction of China as a manufacturing base is a plus.

But it may conversely tweak the tail of the tiger, not least because the contract that the CCP has with the people is that so long as living standards get better they accept social repression, freedom of expression etc. If one side of that equation falters, there is a problem.

 

These are going to be interesting times 

 

I have no idea how this will work out

Yep, In addition, I understand that 4 of the 5 Eyes are pressuring New Zealand to clarify their stance while the Chinese are warning NZ to stay out of it. No doubt the 9 & 14 eyes are watching very closely should security for them become an issue..

[rabas]

53 minutes ago, kamahele said:

No doubt China spies on the US as we do on the Chinese and if caught, something must be done about it but its hard to tell with the current US administration if there is ever any truth to what is said about their actions or if it is just a shiny object to catch the public's attention and divert attention away from covid.

It's been going on for decades, nothing to do with your shiny orange object.

[stevenl]

41 minutes ago, rabas said:

It's been going on for decades, nothing to do with your shiny orange object.

The level of distrust has grown exponentially these last 3.5 years. So there definitely is a connection with 'the shiny orange object'.

[Eric Loh]

20 minutes ago, stevenl said:

The level of distrust has grown exponentially these last 3.5 years. So there definitely is a connection with 'the shiny orange object'.

Definitely a motive in this latest episode of harsh US action. Putting spies in embassies are something country does. US put spies and CIA officers in US missions around the world, it’s a known fact. However what is different with this current situation is the level of response. 
 

 Summed up here nicely. 

“In the history of diplomacy, this usually results in bouncing some officials,” said Steven Lewis, China Fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. “Usually you don’t close an entire consulate over something like this."

[car720]

5 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

why do governments always seem to want to increase their influence and power over one and another ?

because their masters want more money.  So many believe that governments control things.

[car720]

14 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Definitely a motive in this latest episode of harsh US action. Putting spies in embassies are something country does. US put spies and CIA officers in US missions around the world, it’s a known fact. However what is different with this current situation is the level of response. 
 

 Summed up here nicely. 

“In the history of diplomacy, this usually results in bouncing some officials,” said Steven Lewis, China Fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. “Usually you don’t close an entire consulate over something like this."

What we have here though are two bullies facing off.  One needs war to maintain power and the other needs to be re-elected.

[FritsSikkink]

7 hours ago, PatOngo said:

China has aced the world with it's filthy corona virus, they have a very good head start with WWIII....they are devastating  the world financially and the death toll is rising while they calmly sit back and say nothing!

Your own government made a mess of the Corona virus, could have been contained now if the had the brains to act properly.

[PatOngo]

4 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Your own government made a mess of the Corona virus, could have been contained now if the had the brains to act properly.

....and my country is?

[ThaiFelix]

21 hours ago, elephant45 said:

So, why haven't they shut down Costco, Walmart and every other garbage supplier in the USA? That would be more effective.

The sad thing is, what many people like yourself dont comprehend, is that these places sell the garbage that people actually want.  Or do you think these people get duped time after time again because they keep going back?  So its either most Americans are fools or they like garbage.....or both??

[IAMHERE]

11 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

The Yanks better empty the consulate quickly! Videos are out now of black suvs, locksmith van and agents breaking into the Houston Chinese consulate. lol

Keystone Spys; China had days to burn anything of importance. Why even search that consolate?

[opalred]

just another sideline for trumps failures  /who does the most spying in the world at there embassy's

let you guess   

[metisdead]

Some posts using trolling representations of Joe Biden's name have been removed as well as the replies. 

[RobFord]

That consulate should start a huge toilet paper bonfire in the backyard, just to stir them up.