China urges US to immediately withdraw bad decision, Beijing said (Representation)
Beijing:
The United States has ordered China to shut down its Houston consulate, Beijing said Wednesday, in what it called a “political provocation” that will further damage diplomatic relations.
The move comes as tensions soar between the world‘s two largest economies on a number of fronts, including a controversial national security law in semi-autonomous Hong Kong.
“China urges the United States to immediately withdraw its bad decision, otherwise China will certainly take an appropriate and necessary response,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, adding that they were told on Tuesday that the consulate should close.
“This is a political provocation launched unilaterally by the American side, which seriously violates international law … and the bilateral consular agreement between China and the United States,” Wang said.
He added that China “strongly condemns” the “outrageous and unwarranted gesture that will sabotage Sino-US relations.”
According to local media in Houston, firefighters and police were called to the consulate building on Tuesday evening over reports of documents being burned in the building’s yard.
The Houston Police Twitter feed said smoke was observed, but officers “were not allowed to enter the building.”
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
