State Department Orders China To Close Their Houston Consulate in 72 Hours

July 22, 2020 (EIRNS)—Mike Pompeo’s State Department late yesterday ordered the Chinese government to close their consulate in Houston, giving them 72 hours to do so. According to spokesperson Morgan Ortagus, the step was taken to “protect American intellectual property and Americans’ private property.” She added that the U.S. “will not tolerate the P.R.C.’s violations of our sovereignty and intimidation of our people, just as we have not tolerated the P.R.C.’s unfair trade practices, theft of American jobs, and other egregious behavior. President Trump insists on fairness and reciprocity in U.S.-China relations.” No further public explanation of this drastic escalation in the confrontation between the U.S. and China has been provided by the State Department.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded with shock and anger at the U.S. government, for what it described as “an unprecedented escalation of its recent actions against China.” In the daily press briefing, spokesman Wang Wenbin stated tersely: “It is a political provocation unilaterally launched by the U.S. side, which seriously violates international law, basic norms governing international relations and the bilateral consular agreement between China and the U.S. China strongly condemns such an outrageous and unjustified move which will sabotage China-U.S. relations. We urge the U.S. to immediately withdraw its erroneous decision; otherwise China will make legitimate and necessary reactions.”

Wang further denounced the “stigmatization and unwarranted attacks against China’s social system,” and revealed that the environment has gotten so heated that “our embassy in the U.S. recently has even received bomb and death threats on Chinese diplomatic missions and personnel in the U.S.”