China promised to retaliate after the United States ordered the country on Tuesday to close its consulate in Houston.
“China demands the U.S. revoke this wrong decision. If the U.S. goes ahead with it, China will take the necessary countermeasures,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said during a news briefing.
In a statement, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said the order was issued to “protect American intellectual property and Americans’ private information.”
“The U.S. 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,” Ortagus said. “President Trump insists on fairness and reciprocity in U.S.-China relations.”
According to KPRC-TV in Houston, police and fire department officers received and responded to reports of fires breaking out inside the consulate, but were not able to enter because of Chinese sovereignty. Chinese officials were reportedly burning documents in the consulate’s courtyard.
This video shared with us by a viewer who lives next to the Consulate General of China in #Houston shows fire and activity in the courtyard of the building.
DETAILS SO FAR: https://t.co/2cOeKoap96 pic.twitter.com/0myxe6HIlC— KPRC2Tulsi (@KPRC2Tulsi) July 22, 2020
.@HoustonFire and @houstonpolice are responding to reports of documents being burned at the Consulate General of China on 3417 Montrose Boulevard. Here’s what the scene looks like there right now. pic.twitter.com/grUHhqmUz4
— KPRC2Tulsi (@KPRC2Tulsi) July 22, 2020
“You could just smell the paper burning,” a witness told the local outlet. “But, all the firefighters were just surrounding the building. They couldn’t go inside.”
Beijing is reportedly considering closing the U.S. consulate in Wuhan, the city where the outbreak of the coronavirus is believed to have originated, in response.
