Washington’s demand marks ‘a political provocation unilaterally launched by the U.S.,’ Foreign Ministry says On Tuesday, the U.S. demanded that China close its consulate in Houston. Photo: aly song/Reuters Updated July 22, 2020 5:24 am ET HONG KONG—The U.S. ordered the abrupt closure of China’s consulate in Houston, a dramatic escalation in bilateral tensions that Beijing condemned as outrageous and unprecedented. Washington’s demand, issued Tuesday, marked “a political provocation unilaterally launched by the U.S.,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Wednesday at a routine briefing in Beijing. “China urges the U.S. to immediately rescind its erroneous decision, otherwise China will undertake legitimate and necessary responses.” Morgan Ortagus, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said Washington ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston “in order to protect American intellectual property” and the private information of U.S. citizens. “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,” Ms. Ortagus said in a statement, using an abbreviation of the People’s Republic of China. Fire trucks were seen outside the Chinese consulate in Houston. Photo: ronald cline/Reuters “President Trump insists on fairness and reciprocity in U.S.-China relations,” she said. The Foreign Ministry’s remarks came after firefighters and police officers responded to calls about fires witnessed late Tuesday at the Chinese consulate in Houston. Footage aired by local television stations purportedly showed people burning documents on the consulate’s premises. Mr. Wang didn’t specify the deadline given for the Chinese consulate to cease operations. Hu Xijin, the editor in chief of Communist Party tabloid Global Times, tweeted Wednesday that the consulate was ordered to shut down within 72 hours. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman also accused the U.S. of violating international law and reneging on a bilateral consular agreement. He said Washington has for some time been harassing Chinese diplomatic personnel in the U.S. and intimidating Chinese students. Mr. Wang said the U.S. imposed restrictions on Chinese diplomatic staff twice in the past year, without providing details. He also said the U.S. had opened Chinese diplomatic bags on multiple occasions without permission and confiscated unspecified items for official use. Diplomatic bags aren’t supposed to be opened or detained by host countries under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which the U.S. and China are both parties to. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/c...s-been-ordered-shut-11595406195?mod=home-page