The US has instructed China to shut its consulate in Houston, Texas, by Friday – a move described as “political provocation” by Beijing.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the decision was taken because China was “stealing” intellectual property.
Replying strongly to the US move, China Foreign Minister Spokesman Wang Wenhin termed it as an “unprecedented escalation” and warned retaliatory measures.
“China demands the US revoke the wrong decision. If the US went ahead, China would take essential countermeasures; he warned.
David R. Stilwell, who supervises policy for East Asia and the Pacific at the State Department, said in an interview that the Houston consulate had a history of engaging in “subversive behaviour” and was the epicentre of research theft in the United States. He gave few details to support that assertion, though other American officials released a document with more information on Wednesday night.
The official English-language newspaper China Daily on Thursday depicted the move as “a new gambit in the US administration’s bid to paint China as a malevolent actor on the world stage, and thus make it an outlaw to the international community”.
Daniel Hoffman, a former CIA station chief, said the spy agency would have “gamed out” how China would respond to the consulate closure and that the administration had decided it could stomach the results.