• Powers.The new Cold War between China and the US: the end of Hong Kong's preferential treatment and the dispute in the South Sea
  • Diplomacy: United States studies banning entry for all members of the Chinese Communist Party

The United States has ordered the Chinese consulate in Houston to close in three days , citing the need to protect American intellectual property and information, a decision that takes place amid a sharp deterioration in relations between the two countries.

Beijing condemned the order and threatened retaliation , including the closure of the US consulate in Wuhan city, according to a Reuters agency source. Ties between the United States and China have become increasingly strained since the outbreak of the new coronavirus in Wuhan earlier this year.

The US State Department confirmed the imminent closure of the Houston consulate after the Chinese Foreign Ministry reported that it had been told to close the mission.

The shutdown has been ordered "in order to protect American intellectual property and the private information of the United States ," Morgan Ortagus, a spokesman for the State Department, said in a statement.

"The United States will not tolerate violations of our sovereignty by the PRC and intimidation of our people, just as we have not tolerated unfair trade practices in the PRC, theft of American jobs and other egregious behavior," he added, referring to China by its official name, the People's Republic of China.

The two countries have recently clashed over trade, technology, the Hong Kong-imposed National Security Law and China's claims in the South Sea.

"The unilateral closure of the Chinese consulate general in Houston in a short period of time is an unprecedented escalation in its recent actions against China," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin. "We urge the US to immediately overturn this wrong decision. If it insists on following this wrong path, China will react with firm countermeasures," he said.

Wang Wenbin claims that the US government has been harassing Chinese diplomats and consular personnel for some time, as well as "intimidating and questioning Chinese students and confiscating their personal electronic devices, even arresting them." He also said the consulate was operating normally, but did not respond to questions about the news outlets in the Houston media Tuesday night that documents were burning in a consulate yard .

"It appears that something is burning in a container inside the courtyard of the Chinese consulate. It does not appear to be a wildfire, but we have not been allowed access," Houston Fire Department Chief Samuel Pena told television. KTRK. "We are waiting and monitoring the situation."

Houston police told FOX 26 that staff were burning documents because they were going to be evicted from the building on Friday afternoon.

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Diplomacy The new Cold War between China and the US: the end of Hong Kong's preferential treatment and the dispute in the South Sea

PoliticsUnited States studies banning entry for all members of the Chinese Communist Party

AsiaCoronavirus and Hong Kong: two hotbeds of tension between China and the EU

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