U.S. orders China’s Consulate-General in Houston, Texas to be closed

미, 72시간 내 중국 총영사관 폐쇄 요구… 중 강경대응 예고

The U.S. has abruptly ordered China to cease all operations and events at its consulate in Houston by Friday afternoon,…local time, in a move that’s certain to erode the already sour relations between the two superpowers.
Kim Hyo-sun reports.
Tensions continue to escalate between the U.S. and China as the former has ordered the latter to close its consulate in Houston, Texas by 4 p.m. Friday,… providing just 72 hours notice.
Washington’s top diplomat, Mike Pompeo explained the decision was taken because Beijing was “stealing” intellectual property.
“It is not just American intellectual property being stolen, but European intellectual property too causing hundreds, costing hundreds of thousands of jobs, good jobs for hardworking people all across Europe and America stolen by the Chinese Communist Party.”
China’s foreign ministry condemned the move,… saying the measure breaches international law.
“The decision is a unilateral political provocation made by the United States, which seriously violates international law, basic norms of international relations. The U.S. side is deliberately sabotaging China-U.S. relations, which is unreasonable.”
The Houston consulate was the first Chinese consulate general to be opened in the U.S. in 1979, when the two countries established diplomatic relations.
According to local media outlets,… emergency services were called to the Houston consulate Tuesday evening after reports of several burning bins in the courtyard.
The Houston police force, however, explained on Twitter that officers were not granted access while smoke continued to billow from the compound.
The spokesperson for Beijing’s foreign ministry did not comment in detail on the fire, but insisted it was nothing unusual.
The U.S. measure comes on the heels of intensified tensions between the world’s two superpowers,… over issues of trade, the origin of COVID-19 as well as Beijing’s new security law on Hong Kong.
China’s foreign ministry claims that U.S. authorities have been intimidating Chinese students in the U.S.,… with some even facing what it called groundless arrests.
It urged Chinese students in the U.S. to take extra caution.
Kim Hyo-sun, Arirang News.

#US #China #Consulate

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