US break-in to China's Houston consulate 'no different from burglary': China lashes out

forcible shutting down of Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas has caused a big flashpoint in strained relations between US and China, sparking massive outr by Chinese authorities. 

In most recent statement by China, China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying has slammed US alleging that ir 'break-in' was a violation of Vienna Convention on Consular Relations which clearly states that consulates and embassies of a country on foreign land are its properties. Calling incident 'a burglary', Hua Chunying said that 'break-in' was 'a violation of US constitution and Foreign Missions Act.' 

On July 22, US Government ordered shutting down of Chinese consulate in Houston citing fears of espion. After US government ordered to close China’s consulate in Houston Texas, a group of men were seen accompanied by US State Department official to forcibly open building’s back door. According to witnesses, consulate staff h left building after order came into after at 4 PM (central time) after which door was forced open.

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Chinese consulate in Houston closed

A senior US government official anunced in a press briefing that even though consulates are base of operations for foreign governments in US, some can be used for exploitation and ‘espion activities’. official also said, “ Houston consulate was also implicated in an investigation of grant fraud at a Texas research institution. Consulate officials were directly involved in communications with researchers and guided m on what information to collect.” 

In its statement on closing of consulate, State Department alleged that Chinese nts have tried to steal data from facilities in Texas, including Texas A&M medical system statewide and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

However, US government order of closing one of six Chinese missions has been severely criticised by China who reportedly said that “malicious slander” was behind it. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said order to close consulate “violates international law and basic rms governing international relations,” and “seriously undermines China-U.S. relations.” China has acted by ordering shutdown of US Consulate in Chengdu.

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