This blog is a continuation of another blog which I wrote a few days ago when the US ordered the shutdown of a Chinese Consulate in Houston. If you haven’t read the previous blog, read it here.

The Chinese have retaliated to the shutdown of a Chinese embassy in Houston in the United States of America by ordering a shutdown of an American Consulate at Chengdu in China. The Chinese Communist Party has claimed that it has taken this step in conformity of the International Laws.

Last week, the US ordered the shutdown of a Chinese Consulate in Houston citing allegations of espionage and intellectual property theft by the employees posted there. This escalated the already tense state of affairs between the two superpowers. Since late 2019, there has been a raging trade war between the US and China and the US has continually accused China of corporate espionage by conducting state-sponsored intellectual property thefts, hacking of medical research regarding the development of Covid-19 vaccine, and stealing military secrets.

China also cited similar reasons for the shutdown order of the US Consulate in Chengdu. The CCP also claimed that this has been done in retaliation of the unlawful action taken by the US authorities by ordering the shutdown of the Chinese Consulate in Houston. Chinese external minister Wang Wenbin claimed that the responsibility of this action solely lies on the US side as they have escalated the tension to this level and the Chinese never wanted the state of affairs to take such a turn. He also stated that this conforms to the basic norms of International Law as well as the diplomatic conventions.

On the other hand, the US authorities said that the action taken by the Chinese authorities are against International Law and should take necessary steps in ensuring peaceful bilateral relations. The US flag at the consulate at Chengdu was lowered at 6.18 AM on Monday 27 July 2020 after the local police barricaded the consulate and intensified the security in the area.

The US employees were disappointed over the tit-for-tat move by the Chinese citing that the Consulate officials have always stood with the people of Sichuan, Guizhou, and Tibet for 35 years. The Consulate opened in 1985 and has since been operational in the area.

While the Chinese Consulate in Houston has been accused of burning important documents before the US authorities took control of the building when the shutdown was ordered. Critics and researchers say that this may point towards a big cover-up which the Chinese employees were trying to do there.

The United States is gearing up for the elections this year and both the countries are dramatically increasing the distance between each other which was not possible before because of the advent of globalization. The US may try to put some serious sanctions over China over the charges of espionage, infiltration, and intelligence activities when the new President takes the office after the elections.

Just in my previous blog, I wrote about how China is meddling with its territorial limits in the Himalayan region and drawing big flak from the international community. Today, there is news from the international community which seems to be one aspect of that flak only. The news is how the US has ordered China to shut down its Consulate in Houston.

During the past few weeks, the tension between the United States is on a continuous rise. It initially began when the US decided to not to let Huawei build the 5G network in the country. This came as a crushing blow to China's tech market which was already wounded when India banned 58 major mobile applications. The motive behind the US banning Huawei's 5G infrastructure has been told to be privacy concerns which are raised time and again against all the Chinese tech giants. Very recently, France has also banned Huawei's bid to build 5G infrastructure on their land.

One more reason cited by the United States in the order of the shutdown of the Chinese Consulate in Houston is the Chinese sponsored theft of Intellectual Property, which costs the US anywhere between $300 Billion - $600 Billion annually. One out of every five companies in the United States says that their IP was stolen by China in some way or the other. Apart from the theft of IP, China is also notorious in stealing trade secrets from the US and is many times caught running corporate espionage programs. Since the last decade, more than 100 of such activities have been reported to various authorities such as the FBI and CIA.

The United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also told yesterday that the Chinese Consulate in Houston has been a hub of spying. It was also reported that since the orders to shut down the consulate released, there were a bunch of important documents that were burnt at the Chinese Consulate in Houston, for which a fire brigade was also called in to put out the raging fire. It has been said that China is taking an approach full of lies and deceit so that it could gain more world dominance and with such actions, it has also bit the hands that fed it.

Mike Pompeo also called the world to end this blind engagement with China. He has also urged countries like India and Australia to take advantage of the trade opportunities in the APAC. He also said, "If we bend the knee now, our children's children may be at the mercy of the CCP, whose actions are the primary challenge to the free world."

In its reply to all of this, China said that this move by the United States has severely harmed the relationship between the two countries and China will retaliate to give a befitting reply to the US. China is planning to shut down the US Consulate in the South Western city of Chengdu, which is in the Sichuan province. It is also planning to shut down the Wuhan Consulate of the United States because it has been left unattended due to the abandoning when the COVID-19 broke out there. US President Donald Trump has also ruled out that this will be the only shut down of any of the Chinese Consulate in the US. So there could be more of such incidents.

It is just my remark but I feel that China is posing a threat to the free world and the various democracies all over. I feel that there should be strict sanctions that must be put against China so that the CCP understands that the entire world is not like Tibet of Xinjiang where it could do whatever it pleases.