A very mysterious case ... The United States ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston "in order to protect American intellectual property", said Wednesday a spokeswoman for the State Department, after a strong protest from Beijing .
"The Vienna Convention says that state diplomats must" respect the laws and rules of the host country "and" have the duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that state "," also stressed the spokesperson for the host country. State Department Morgan Ortagus, without further details on the specific reasons for the shutdown.
A very tense context between the two countries
"We have ordered the closure of the Consulate of the People's Republic of China in Houston in order to protect American intellectual property and American private information," she said on the sidelines of a visit by the head of American diplomacy Mike Pompeo in Copenhagen.
This decision comes against a backdrop of heightened tensions between the two powers on several fronts: controversial national security law in Hong Kong, accusations of espionage, human rights situation in the Xinjiang region (north-west) in particular.
"A political provocation"
“The United States will not tolerate China's violations of our sovereignty and intimidation of our people, just as we have not tolerated unfair business practices, theft of American jobs and other egregious behavior. President Trump insists on justice and reciprocity in Sino-US relations, ”the spokeswoman said in a statement released to the press.
China announced Wednesday that it had been forced by the United States to close its consulate in Houston, a move described as "provocation" by Beijing. "This is a political provocation launched unilaterally by the American side, which seriously violates international law," a spokesperson for Chinese diplomacy, Wang Wenbin, denounced to the press.
"China strongly condemns this scandalous and unjustified action", assured the spokesperson, threatening Washington with "reprisals". According to several Houston media, firefighters were called to the consulate on Tuesday night for documents that were allegedly burned in the building's yard. Houston police said on Twitter that smoke had been observed but law enforcement "had not been allowed to enter" the consulate grounds.
About 8:25 pm on Tuesday, our officers responded to a meet the firefighter call to the China Consulate General in Houston building at 3417 Montrose Blvd.
Smoke was observed in an outside courtyard area. Officers were not granted access to enter the building. 1/2
China has five consulates in the United States.
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