China has strongly protested the "forcible entry" of US officials in the Chinese consulate in Houston after it was vacated by the diplomatic staff, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Saturday
BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th July, 2020) China has strongly protested the "forcible entry" of US officials in the Chinese consulate in Houston after it was vacated by the diplomatic staff, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Saturday.
The Houston Chronicle reported Friday that people believed to be State Department officials pried a backdoor open to gain access to the diplomatic mission just 40 minutes after Chinese diplomats left it in several vans.
"China has expressed strong opposition and a firm protest against the forcible entry of the US side in the territory of the Chinese consulate general in Houston," Wang Wenbin said in a statement, adding Beijing would take further action.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman argued that the consulate was the state property of China protected by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and a US-Chinese agreement.
The US administration on Tuesday ordered the consulate in the state of Texas shut by Friday, after accusing China of stealing US intellectual property. In a tit-for-tat move, China ordered the closure of the US consulate in Chengdu for meddling in its internal affairs.
