China weighs to close US Consulate General in Chengdu

China is moving to close the US consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu in retaliation for the forced closure of the Chinese diplomatic facility in Houston on Tuesday, Report says, citing South China Morning Post.

Washington maintains five consulates on the Chinese mainland – in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang, Chengdu, and Wuhan – as well as a consulate general for Hong Kong and Macau. The closure of the Chengdu facility is expected to escalate tensions between China and the US.

China vowed to retaliate after the US closed its Houston consulate to "protect Americans' intellectual property and private information." There were initial suggestions that Beijing would target the US consulate in Wuhan for closure.

Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the nationalist tabloid Global Times, said China would take countermeasures but that closing the Wuhan consulate would not be strong enough as the US had already evacuated staff during the Covid-19 pandemic. China would probably "think out of the box" in its retaliation, Hu said.

The US consulate in Chengdu opened in 1985 and is strategically important as it covers the country's southwestern region, including the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Tibet autonomous region, and Chongqing.

Washington has ordered the shutdown of China's Houston consulate "to protect intellectual property and private information," while US President Donald Trump hinted that similar measures might be imposed on other Chinese diplomatic outposts. In turn, Beijing rejected the US claims, describing them as "groundless fabrications."