Chinese authorities take control of US Consulate in Chengdu

U.S. diplomatic staff vacated the American Consulate in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu on Monday after Beijing ordered its closure amid rising tensions between the two global powers.

China's government ordered the U.S. mission to shutter in retaliation for the Trump administration's decision to force the Chinese Consulate in Houston to close, accusing diplomats there of spying and stealing intellectual property.

In Chengdu, footage broadcast by China's state broadcaster CCTV showed U.S. consular staff leaving the facility, a plaque being removed and the U.S. flag lowered. China's foreign ministry said its staff entered the building and were in control.

Outside, crowds assembled waving Chinese flags and taking photos and selfies on smartphones as shoppers and families with strollers jammed nearby streets on a sunny day in the city of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province.

The tit-for-tat closings marked a significant escalation in U.S.-China tensions, which have flared over the COVID-19 pandemic, trade, human rights, Taiwan and Hong Kong. President Donald Trump and his top advisers have blamed China for the coronavirus pandemic. Critics say it is an effort to distract from the administration's flawed response to the health crisis.

The State Department expressed disappointment with Monday's closure of its Chengdu facility, saying the consulate "has stood at the center of our relations with the people in Western China, including Tibet, for 35 years." The U.S. government "will strive to continue our outreach to the people in this important region through our other posts in China," the agency said in a statement.

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A day earlier, China’s foreign ministry issued a statement of protest over what it called intrusions into the Houston consulate, which closed on Friday, saying U.S. actions violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the China-U.S. Consular Convention.

"The Chinese side deplores and firmly opposes the U.S. move of forcibly entering China’s Consulate General in Houston and has lodged solemn representations. China will make legitimate and necessary reactions," the Chinese foreign ministry said.

China maintains consulates in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York in addition to its embassy in Washington. The U.S. has four other consulates in China and an embassy in Beijing, keeping the sides in parity in terms of diplomatic missions.

The Chengdu consulate briefly came to prominence when the police chief of the nearby city of Chongqing fled there in 2012, precipitating the downfall of Chongqing’s politically ambitious leader Bo Xilai in China’s biggest political scandal in decades. It also played host to former Vice President Joe Biden during a visit when the current Democratic presidential candidate was accompanied by China’s now-leader, Xi Jinping.

In 2013, it was identified in news reports by fugitive intelligence analyst Edward Snowden as one of a number U.S. overseas diplomatic facilities used by Washington to conduct surveillance campaigns against American competitors and allies.

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The U.S. says the Houston consulate was a nest of Chinese spies who tried to steal data from facilities in Texas, including the Texas A&M medical system and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. China says the allegations were "malicious slander."

The Chinese flag flies outside of the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas, on July 22, 2020.
The Chinese flag flies outside of the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas, on July 22, 2020.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chinese authorities take control of US Consulate in Chengdu