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US orders China to close Houston consulate
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The U.S. has ordered China to close its consulate in Houston in what a Chinese official called an outrageous and unjustified move that will sabotage relations between the two countries.To get more China breaking news, you can visit shine news official website.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin condemned the action, which comes at a time of rising tensions between the world’s two largest economies. He warned of firm countermeasures if the U.S. does not reverse its decision.
“The unilateral closure of China’s consulate general in Houston within a short period of time is an unprecedented escalation of its recent actions against China,” Wang said at a daily news briefing.The U.S. said in a brief statement that the consulate was ordered closed “to protect American intellectual property and American’s private information.” It did not provide any details.
“The United States will not tolerate the PRC’s violations of our sovereignty and intimidation of our people, just as we have not tolerated the PRC’s unfair trade practices, theft of American jobs, and other egregious behavior. President Trump insists on fairness and reciprocity in U.S.-China relations,” said Morgan Ortagus, a State Department spokesperson. “We have directed the closure of PRC Consulate General Houston, in order to protect American intellectual property and American’s private information.”As far as closing additional embassies, it’s always possible,” Trump said. “You see what’s going on, we thought there was a fire in the one that we did close and everybody said ‘There’s a fire! There’s a fire!’ But I guess they were burning documents or burning papers and I wonder what that’s all about.”
The Houston consulate is one of six Chinese diplomatic missions in the U.S., including the embassy in Washington, D.C. and consulates in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.Tuesday night, Houston police and fire officials responded to reports that documents were being burned in the courtyard of the Consulate General of China in Houston.
HPD said they began receiving reports that documents were being burned just after 8 p.m. at 3417 Montrose Boulevard where the consulate is located.A small amount of smoke could be seen and smelled from outside. Dozens of Houston first responders arrived at the scene but they were not allowed on the property as they did not have jurisdiction.
“You could just smell the paper burning,” a witness at the scene told KPRC 2. “But, all the firefighters were just surrounding the building. They couldn’t go inside.”A Houston police source told KPRC 2 that the consulate and a compound on Almeda Road, where many employees of the consulate live, are being evicted on Friday at 4 p.m.Videos shared by a viewer who lives next to the consulate show several open bins or containers with flames coming out of them. People could be seen throwing things into the flaming bins.