--- description: The U.S. government abruptly ordered China to close its consulate in Houston in an “unprecedented escalation,” the Foreign Ministry said title: China's Foreign Ministry Says U.S. Ordered Abrupt Closure of Houston Consulate image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt87bda4c19580a7ee/698a1089011682730397fa0f/china_u.s._houston_consulate.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [China](/tag/china/) ## China Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # China's Foreign Ministry Says U.S. Ordered Abrupt Closure of Houston Consulate by [Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 22, 2020 8:23 AM CUT  Chinese and U.S. flags are seen at the entrance of an office building in Beijing on Jan. 19, 2020. Chinese and U.S. flags are seen at the entrance of an office building in Beijing on Jan. 19, 2020.WANG ZHAO—AFP/Getty Images by [Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 22, 2020 8:23 AM CUT The U.S. government abruptly ordered China to close its consulate in Houston in an “unprecedented escalation,” the Foreign Ministry said, in the latest sign of deteriorating ties between the world’s biggest economies. China said the move was unilaterally initiated by the U.S. and Beijing would “react with firm countermeasures” if the U.S. doesn’t “revoke this erroneous decision.” It accused the U.S. of harassing diplomatic staff and intimidating Chinese students, confiscating personal electrical devices and detaining them without cause. Chinese diplomatic missions and personnel also recently received bomb and death threats, it added. “China strongly condemns such an outrageous and unjustified move which will sabotage China-U.S. relations,” the Foreign Ministry said. “We urge the U.S. to immediately withdraw its erroneous decision. Otherwise China will make legitimate and necessary reactions.” The U.S. gave China 72 hours to close its consulate in Houston, according to Hu Xijin, the editor of the Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper. Houston police and firefighters descended on the consulate following witness reports that papers were being burned outside in open containers, the [Houston Chronicle](https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Paper-being-burned-at-Consulate-General-of-China-15424795.php "undefined") and two local TV stations [reported](https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2020/07/22/houston-fire-and-police-responding-to-reports-of-documents-being-burned-at-consulate-general-of-china/ "undefined"), citing local police. In videos posted online by local media outlets in Houston, fires could be seen in multiple containers, with smoke rising into the sky. TV stations KPRC and KHOU said firefighters were not allowed inside the complex, and KHOU said the fires were later extinguished. The Chronicle said no injuries were reported. The Chronicle and both stations separately reported the consulate would be evicted on Friday at 4 p.m. local time, each citing unnamed sources. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5869893/chinas-foreign-ministry-says-u-s-ordered-abrupt-closure-of-houston-consulate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5869893/chinas-foreign-ministry-says-u-s-ordered-abrupt-closure-of-houston-consulate/"},"headline":"China's Foreign Ministry Says U.S. Ordered Abrupt Closure of Houston Consulate","datePublished":"2020-07-22T08:23:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T09:01:41.472Z","description":"Houston police and firefighters reportedly descended on the consulate following witness reports that papers were being burned outside","url":"https://time.com/5869893/chinas-foreign-ministry-says-u-s-ordered-abrupt-closure-of-houston-consulate/","keywords":["China","wire","overnight","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt87bda4c19580a7ee/698a1089011682730397fa0f/china_u.s._houston_consulate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bloomberg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/bloomberg/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt87bda4c19580a7ee/698a1089011682730397fa0f/china_u.s._houston_consulate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"china_u.s._houston_consulate.jpg","caption":"CHINA-US-ECONOMY","creditText":"WANG ZHAO—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/china/","name":"China"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5869893/chinas-foreign-ministry-says-u-s-ordered-abrupt-closure-of-houston-consulate/","name":"China's Foreign Ministry Says U.S. Ordered Abrupt Closure of Houston Consulate"}}]}] ```