The United States is demanding the closure of the Chinese Consulate General in Houston.
This was stated at a briefing on Wednesday by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.
“On July 21, the US sharply demanded that China close the Chinese Consulate General in Houston. This unilateral political provocation by the United States seriously violates international law and key principles of international relations, as well as the consular agreement between China and the United States,” he said.
The diplomat said that the Chinese authorities will take the necessary measures if the US does not abandon its demand to close the Chinese Consulate General in Houston.
“China strongly condemns this outrageous and unjustified step (the demand to close the Consulate General-here and further note. TASS), which will undermine Chinese-American relations. We call on the US to immediately withdraw their erroneous demand, otherwise China will take legal and necessary measures, ” he said.
According to the diplomat, “the US claims that there is no reciprocity in relations with China.” “This is just their [United States’] old trick that is completely unjustified, ” Wang Wenbin pointed out, adding that the US has significantly more diplomatic staff in China than China has in the United States.
“We call on the United States to immediately withdraw its incorrect decision. If they continue to follow this wrong path, China will take decisive countermeasures, ” the official representative of the Chinese foreign Ministry repeated.
As the diplomat pointed out, the US government has recently shifted the blame to the PRC by “stigmatizing, unfounded attacks on the Chinese social system, harassment of Chinese Embassy and Consulate staff in the US, intimidation and questioning of Chinese students, and even their detention without cause.” “The unilateral closure of the Chinese Consulate General in Houston for a short period of time is an unprecedented escalation of recent us actions against China,” the diplomat said.
He also pointed out that “China is committed to the principle of non-interference”, and “penetration and interference have never been part of China’s foreign policy”. “[The activities of] Chinese diplomatic missions in the United States are aimed at strengthening mutual understanding and friendship between the peoples of the two countries, ” Wang Wenbin concluded.
Earlier, the editor-in-chief of the Chinese state-run Global Times, Hu Xijin, wrote on his Twitter page that the US demanded that China close the Chinese Consulate General in Houston within 72 hours. He also called the demand a “crazy step”.
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