Beijing has ordered Friday the closure of the U.s. consulate in Chengdu, three days after Washington’s decision to close the consulate of China in Houston.
This is the last act of the happening of weapons between China and the United States. Beijing has ordered Friday the closure of the U.s. consulate in the city of Chengdu, in the south-west of the country, three days after Washington’s decision to close the consulate of China in Houston, in Texas.
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These decisions are taken on a background of exacerbated tensions between the two powers on several fronts, including the controversial law on national security to Hong Kong and the situation of human Rights in the region of Xinjiang (north-west).
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Act 1 : China forced to close its consulate in Houston
on Wednesday, China announced that it had been forced by the United States to close its consulate in Houston, in the State of Texas. A decision is extremely rare in sino-us relations, which is reminiscent of the cold War soviet-american. “This is a provocation policy introduced unilaterally by the american side, which seriously violates the international law,” denouncing then in front of the press, a spokesman for the chinese diplomatic, Wang Wenbin. “China strongly condemns this action outrageous and unjustified”, says the spokesperson, threatening Washington of “retaliation”.
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According to multiple media of Houston, firefighters were called Tuesday evening at the consulate for documents that have been burned in the courtyard of the building. Police in Houston said on Twitter that the smoke had been observed, but that the forces of order “had not been allowed to enter” within the walls of the consulate. “I imagine that they burnt the documents,” said then Donald Trump.
If the United States has ordered the closure of the consulate of china to Houston, it is “to protect american intellectual property and private information of Americans,” explains Morgan Ortagus, a spokeswoman for the State Department. “The United States will not tolerate violations of our sovereignty and the intimidation of our people by China,” says the spokesperson.
Act 2 : Mike Pompeo accuses the consulate would be a “hub of espionage”
The consulate of China in Houston is “a hub of espionage” chinese and “the theft of intellectual property,” said Thursday the u.s. secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. In a speech that was very virulent against the asian giant has spoken from California, he accuses Beijing of “stealing” of “valuable trade secrets” of the Americans. The head of american diplomacy also calls “the free world” to “triumph” in the face of the “new tyranny” embodied, according to him, by the communist China. “Today’s China is more and more authoritarian to the interior of the country, and more aggressive in its hostility to freedom everywhere”, he says.
on Wednesday, the deputy u.s. secretary of State Stephen Biegun was also clarified that the president, Donald Trump has made this decision spectacular because “of the flight persistent of american technology by representatives and agents of the chinese government”, the “misuse of the systems of academic exchange” to achieve these ends, and finally the “behavior of the diplomats of the chinese consulate in Houston, which is incompatible with the normal practices of diplomacy”. The republican representative from Texas Michael McCaul believes his side, in the words of a senior official of the State department, the consulate in Houston was “the epicenter of the flight research by the chinese communist Party in the United States, including sensitive information used to develop its army”.
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This diplomatic mission based in Houston is actually “the heart” of “a vast network of spies,” says senator Marco Rubio, chairman of the Intelligence committee. “There is no doubt that China represents a threat phenomenal in terms of spying for the United States”, considers him as Abraham Denmark, from the research center the Wilson Center. The charges of theft of trade secrets to american spies chinese do not date from yesterday, but Donald Trump has made it a major theme in its trade war with Beijing.
Act 3 : the Beijing replica in Chengdu
The retaliation by Beijing against Washington were not slow. China has ordered Friday the closure of the U.s. consulate in Chengdu. This decision constitutes “a legitimate response and necessary measures to be unreasonable in the United States”, says the chinese ministry of foreign Affairs. The ministry does not specify the period within which the diplomatic representation is expected to close its doors. In the case of Houston, the administration Trump had been given only 72 hours to the chinese ambassador to pack up and leave.
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in Addition to its embassy in Beijing, the United States has five consulates in mainland China (Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang, Chengdu, Wuhan), as well as in Hong Kong. The mission of the city of Chengdu, opened in 1985, covers the whole of the south-west of China, including the Tibet autonomous region. According to its website, it has 200 employees, including 150 local status. The China has five consulates in the United States. The one in Houston was opened in 1979 and has 900 000 chinese citizens registered in its registers.
