China has ordered the United States to close its consulate in the city of Chengdu, in response to being told to shut its consulate in Houston earlier this week, as  relations between the two countries deteriorated further.

China has ordered the United States to close its consulate in the city of Chengdu, in response to being told to shut its consulate in Houston earlier this week, as  relations between the two countries deteriorated further.
China had warned it would retaliate after it was unexpectedly given 72 hours – until today – to vacate its Houston consulate, and had urged Washington to reconsider.
“The U.S. move seriously breached international law, the basic norms of international relations, and the terms of the China-US Consular Convention. It gravely harmed China-USrelations,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China informed the USEmbassy in China of its decision to withdraw its consent for the establishment and operation of the US Consulate General in Chengdu,” it said.
Relations between Washington and Beijing have deteriorated sharply this year over a range of issues, from trade and technology to the coronavirus, China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and its clampdown on Hong Kong.
In a speech yesterday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington and its allies must use “more creative and assertive ways” to press the Chinese Communist Party to change its ways, calling it the “mission of our time.”