China orders US to close its consulate in Chengdu in response to Houston closure
US China
The central government of the People's Republic of China has ordered United States to close its consulate in Chengdu, as a countermeasure to the closure of the Chinese Consulate-General in Houston, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday.
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According to reports Beijing was already preparing to close a US consulate in retaliation for the forced closure of the Chinese diplomatic facility in Houston.
The United States maintains five consulates on the Chinese mainland – in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang, Chengdu and Wuhan – as well as a consulate general for Hong Kong and Macau.
On Wednesday (July 22), the United States had said it had given China 72 hours to close the consulate "to protect American intellectual property and Americans' private information".
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China's embassy to the United States had described the move to close the Houston consulate as a "political provocation" and called on Washington to "immediately revoke" the decision.
Chinese state media had, in its editorials, also lambasted the move by the United States government to shut down China's consulate in Houston as an attempt to blame Beijing for American failures ahead of presidential elections in November.
Meanwhile, the FBI has arrested three Chinese nationals for visa fraud, while a fourth remains a fugitive staying at China's consulate in San Francisco.
Chengdu alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese province of Sichuan.
(With inputs from agencies)