The U.S. government’s order to China to shut its consulate in Houston is an attempt to blame Beijing for U.S. failures ahead of the November presidential election, Chinese state media said in editorials on Thursday, Reuters reported.
The United States said on Wednesday it had given China 72 hours to close the consulate “to protect American intellectual property and Americans’ private information”, prompting Chinese threats of retaliation.
The decision marked a dramatic escalation of tension between the world’s two biggest economies amid fresh accusations of Chinese espionage in the United States and calls by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for a new global coalition against Beijing.
China’s embassy to the United States described the order as “political provocation” and called on Washington to “immediately revoke” the decision.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying wrote on Twitter that China would “surely react with firm countermeasures”.
The official English-language China Daily newspaper described the closure as “a new gambit in the U.S. administration’s bid to paint China as a malevolent actor on the world stage, and thus make it an outlaw to the international community”.
“The move shows that lagging behind his presidential election opponent in the polls … the U.S. leader is going all out in his attempts to portray China as an agent of evil,” it said.
Polls show President Donald Trump trailing his challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, ahead of the Nov. 3 election as the coronavirus crisis worsens, exacting a deep toll on the U.S. economy.
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