China announced on Friday that it had told the United States to shut its consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu.
This development is in response as retaliation to Trump administration’s order to close China’s consulate in Houston, The New York Times reports.
The situation i.e the consulate closure, became an ”Eye For An Eye” which has triggered the initial conflicts both countries had in the past.
The Washington and Beijing, misunderstanding has resulted into new laws like: visa restrictions, new travel rules for diplomats and the expulsion of foreign correspondents.
Meanwhile, there is a resultant effect to these new development which obviously affects both economies- by shutting down diplomatic missions, however, the two countries seem to be moving inexorably toward a deeper divide.
In reaction to the new delopment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing said the move was a “legitimate and necessary response to the unjustified act by the United States.
It also claimed that, “the United States was responsible for the deterioration in relations and urged it to “immediately retract” its directive to close the consulate in Houston.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also made his own comments in form of a speech hours after China’s announcement came.
Pompeo delivered a speech outlining the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive stance toward China on virtually every aspect of the relationship — from trade to technology.
Mr. Pompeo in his speech on Thursday said, “We must admit a hard truth that should guide us in the years and decades to come, that if we want to have a free 21st century, and not the Chinese century of which Xi Jinping dreams, the old paradigm of blind engagement with China simply won’t get it done,” “We must not continue it and we must not return to it.”
