Tit For Tat Move By China: American Flag Lowered At US Consulate In Chengdu, US Diplomats To Leave Today Amid Soaring Tensions

Beijing has decided to close the mission and the American diplomats are to leave the US consulate in the south western city, days after US decided to shut down the Chinese consulate in Houston.

Image: AFP

New Delhi: In what can be termed as a tit for tat move by China, the national flag of the United States was lowered at the US Consulate General in Chengdu early on Monday morning, reports stated. Beijing has decided to close the mission and the American diplomats are to leave the US consulate in the south western city, days after US decided to shut down the Chinese consulate in Houston. Footage on state broadcaster CCTV from outside the consulate showed the flag being slowly lowered early Monday morning, as the diplomatic tensions soared between the two powers with both alleging the other had endangered national security. US action of shuttering the Chinese consulate in Houston was taken because Beijing was stealing intellectual property, US state secretary Mike Pompeo had said, after there were reports of burning of some documents in the consulate. Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that the move of losing the Chengdu consulate was taken because of the  spread of anti-Chinese lies. On Friday, the Chinese mission in Houston had expired and on the same day, China ordered the United States to close its consulate in Chengdu, a southwestern Chinese province. US officials were seen barging into the premises of the Houston consulate on Friday, as the last of Chinese officials were seen leaving with huge pile of documents. China had resented by saying that the US agents "forcibly" entered the Houston consulate, which, as per it, was "China's national property". China had then issued a statement warning that it will make a proper and necessary response in this regard. Tensions between US and China: A number of issues have recently catalyzed the tensions between  the two nuclear powers US and China. The Trump administration has been vocally critical about China’s alleged lackadaisical attitude towards the pandemic. Trump has been repeatedly referring to Coronavirus as Chinese virus. US has been clashing with Beijing over trade disputes. US has condemned the new security law in Hong Kong by China. Also Watch: