The Chinese government ordered the United States to close its consulate in the city of Chengdu.
The demand, which was announced on Friday, was in retaliation for the U.S. ordering China to close its consulate in Houston.
“The measure taken by China is a legitimate and necessary response to the unjustified act by the United States,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement, according to NBC News. “The current situation in Chinese-U.S. relations is not what China desires to see. The United States is responsible for all this. We once again urge the United States to immediately retract its wrong decision and create necessary conditions for bringing the bilateral relationship back on track.”
The Chinese demanded the U.S. close its consulate in Sichuan province, which covers the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou, as well as the Tibet Autonomous Region, shortly after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the decadeslong policy toward the foreign power has been unsuccessful.
“The kind of engagement we have been pursuing has not brought the change inside China that President Nixon hoped to induce,” he said. “Today, China is increasingly authoritarian at home, and more aggressive in its hostility to freedom everywhere else.”
The U.S. forced China to shut down its consulate on Tuesday after police and fire department officers received and responded to reports of fires breaking out inside the compound but were not able to enter because of Chinese sovereignty. Chinese officials were reportedly burning documents in the consulate’s courtyard.
“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,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said. “President Trump insists on fairness and reciprocity in U.S.-China relations.”
The actions represent a heightened tension among the two sides, which has continued to escalate.
