• Coronavirus, exchange of accusations between the United States and China for the theft of data on vaccines
  • Covid and US-China tensions make stock exchanges cautious
  • Coronavirus, Trump returns to accuse China and announces: "Vaccine within the year"
  • The US orders the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston. Officials set fire to the documents

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July 23, 2020 It is a crazy move "to close the Chinese consulate in Houston in 72 hours. So Hu Xijin, director of the Global Times, the Chinese-language tabloid of the Chinese regime, via Twitter, accusing Washington of not having" any decent reason "and calling the accusation to China of" impertinent "espionage. The spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang Wenbin, has in the meantime threatened countermeasures, if the US does not review the decision. Which he called" an outrageous and unjustified move which will sabotage relations between the two countries "," an unprecedented escalation of recent actions against China ".

The #US, while conducting the world's widest espionage activities, accused #China of hacking, which is political manipulation and an old trick it played hoping to divert attention from its incompetent # COVID19 response, Chinese analysts said. https://t.co/RKUeZs1TUr pic.twitter.com/2BG91rksbs

- Global Times (@globaltimesnews) July 22, 2020
The US President, Donald Trump meanwhile speaking with reporters in the White House said: "It is always possible" to close other Chinese consulates in the US. "You saw what happened - he explained - we thought there was a fire in what we closed. I guess they were burning documents. And I wonder what they were." In addition to its embassy in Washington and its mission to the United Nations in New York, China has consulates in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Trump has already tried to blame China for the coronavirus epidemic in the United States, where cases have increased dramatically threatening his prospects for reelection. The State Department said it ordered the consulate to close within 72 hours, accusing Chinese hackers of attempting to steal data on the Covid 19 vaccine from Texan facilities, including the Texas A&M medical system and the University of Texas. MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. While State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said the closure was intended "to protect American intellectual property and American private information."

The Trump administration also announced that it will not reopen its consulate in Wuhan, closed in January due to the coronavirus pandemic (the remaining 4 are in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Shenyang, in addition to the embassy in Beijing). "We will act to protect Americans, protect our national security, our economy and jobs," added Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from Copenhagen.