Credit: china.usembassy /  The United States Consulate General at Chengdu, China

By Gary Raynaldo       DIPLOMATIC TIMES

China  closed the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu Monday in retaliation for an American order to shut down the Chinese consulate in Houston. The U.S. Consulate General at Chengdu opened on October 16, 1985.  The Chengdu consular district is made up of the Provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou, as well as the Tibet Autonomous Region and Chongqing City Municipality. The American flag was taken down at 6:18 a.m. local time (6:18 p.m. ET), state broadcaster CCTV reported. According to Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin, China’s takeover of the closed U.S. Chengdu consulate premises on Monday is a legitimate and necessary response to the U.S. closure of China’s Houston consulate.

Credit: mprc.gov.cn/   People’s Republic of China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin at press conference Jul. 27, 2020. 

“On July 21, the US launched a unilateral provocation by abruptly demanding that China close its Consulate General in Houston”, People’s Republic of China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters at press conference Jul. 27, 2020.  The spokesperson added that “China lodged stern representations over this with the US side, asking it to immediately revoke the erroneous decision, otherwise China would make a legitimate and necessary response.”  Wenbin said that on July 24, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China told the US side to close its Consulate General in Chengdu. 

“This morning, the US personnel vacated the compound and the US Consulate General in Chengdu was closed as required by China. Competent Chinese authorities then entered through the front entrance and took over the premises. Demanding the closure of the US Consulate General in Chengdu and taking over the premises is China’s legitimate and necessary response to the unjustified US act of closing China’s Consulate General in Houston and breaking into the compound. What China has done conforms with international law, the basic norms of international relations, and customary diplomatic practices. The current situation in China-US relations is not what China desires to see, and the US is responsible for all this.”

-People’s Republic of China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin Jul. 27, 2020. 

At Monday’s press conference, a BBC reporter asked the Foreign Ministry spokesperson:  ‘I think you referred to the US side breaking into the compound in Houston. Could you explain a bit more about that?’:   

“China’s Consulate General in Houston is China’s diplomatic and consular premises and state property. According to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the China-US Consular Convention, the US side shall not infringe upon the premises in any way. The Chinese side deplores and firmly opposes the US forcible entry into the compound and has lodged solemn representations.”

-China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin