Int'l experts criticize US abrupt request to close Chinese consulate general

BEIJING - The US decision to close the Chinese Consulate General in Houston has drawn criticisms worldwide. Multiple international experts called the move a unilateral US political provocation, which seriously violates international law and basic norms governing international relations, and undermines China-US relations.

On Tuesday, the US side abruptly requested the Chinese side to close its Consulate General in Houston.

Hussein Ismail, a researcher at Egypt State Information Service, said that the US move is a unilateral political provocation, a serious violation of international law and basic norms governing international relations, a reflection of the arrogance of the US government and a destruction of China-US relations.

Ali Sarwar Naqvi, executive director at the Islamabad-based Center for International Strategic Studies in Pakistan, said the US move has shocked the world because people got scared of the direction in which the United States is taking the world.

Such a condemnable and immature decision is totally against the diplomatic norms and a sheer violation of the Vienna Convention, he added.

Regarding the US move as a petty and vile provocation, Andrey Manoilo, doctor of political science at Moscow State Lomonosov University, said from a diplomatic point of view, this is a clearly unfriendly act of the United States.

Cavince Adhere, an international relations researcher specializing in China-Africa relations in Kenya, said the US move that risks escalating the diplomatic friction between China and the United States may further rock bilateral ties.

The closure of the consulate will adversely impact the daily lives of the Chinese living in the United States and blunt efforts to promote cultural exchanges among the people of the two countries, Adhere added.

The United States is using "China card" so that US President Donald Trump can turn the election situation in his favor, said Volodymyr Volya, an expert at the Ukrainian Institute of Politics.

This has already made a small negative impact on global economic development, said Volya, warning that further deterioration of China-US relations is possible.

On Wednesday, Chinese Embassy in the United States said in a statement that "China strongly condemns and firmly opposes such an outrageous and unjustified move which sabotages China-US relations."

Over the years, Chinese diplomatic missions in the United States, including the Consulate General in Houston, have been performing duties in strict accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and are dedicated to promoting China-US exchanges and cooperation and advancing the two peoples' mutual understanding and friendship, the statement said.