Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin commented on the US move to close the Chinese Houston consulate this week by saying, “China must make a necessary response and safeguard its legitimate rights”.
Wenbin said the US’s decision his week had “severely harmed” US-China relations and warned that China “must” retaliate, without specifying any measures.
On Tuesday, the US gave China 72 hours to close its Wuhan consulate in Houston, which the US stated was “to protect American intellectual property and Americans’ private information”.
Wenbin rebutted the US accusations by calling them “malicious slander” and described the move as “unreasonable”.
Editor of China’s Global Times tabloid, Hu Xijin, posted on Twitter: “Based on what I know, China will announce countermeasure on Friday Beijing time. One U.S. consulate in China will be asked to close.”
A U.S. law enforcement official stated the US move of closing the Chinese consulate was “not one singular incident” and was in fact a part of a “continual pattern” due to suspicions or potentially illegal activities by Chinese diplomats.
During a news briefing on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said it was “always possible” that other Chinese consulate could be closed too.
Richard Grenell, a special presidential envoy for Serbia and Kosovo, called the US decision an “escalation strategy”, further saying US strategy was “very much start with one and move on to others if need be.”