The Closure of the Consulate Is Not Conductive to Solving the Sino-US Problems and the International Community Calls on US to Return to Cooperation

Recently, the action of closing the Consulate led to increasing tension between China and the United States. But a great many American people, as well as many of the French, Japanese, New Zelanian and Philippinese people thought that, the Closure wasn’t conductive to solving the Sino-US problems. They called on the US government to keep sober and reasonable and return back to the track of cooperation.

The former American Intelligence Officer of the East Asia, the visiting professor of the The George Washington University Paul Heer wrote in his article the National Interest:” the decision to close the Houston Consulate is highly problematic in two respects. First, it strongly appears to be a product in part of the Trump administration’s reelection campaign strategy to highlight the threat that China poses to the United States. This presumably will allow Trump to deflect attention away from his failure to effectively confront the coronavirus pandemic and toward an external enemy which, among other things, can be held accountable for the pandemic. This will also allow the administration to burnish its campaign theme that Joe Biden is soft on the China threat and thus unqualified to confront it. Whatever credibility can be assigned to either of these tactics, it is unfortunate and dangerous that the administration assigns more weight to them than it does to the potentially profound and longterm strategic implications of fueling a more adversarial and hostile relationship with China.Second, the problem with this action is that it, like most of the administration’s tactics and rhetorical assertions about China, is based on an exaggerated and inaccurate characterization of Beijing’s strategic intentions and ambitions.”

While Daniel Russel, the former diplomat and now the vice presidentof the Asia Society Policy Institute, told The New York Times that, closing the Houston Consulate “further reduces the few remaining diplomatic channels between the two sides and is a step that will prove difficult to reverse.”

Nevertheless, during an interview, Winston Lord, the former US Ambassador to China pointed out that the US’s request of closing the Chinese Consulate General in Houston was the first time during 41 years, which made him quite surprised. He thought that, there was a risk of  disconnection between China and US and that would be harmful to the both countries.

At the same time, the international community appealed US to recooperate with China.

The researcher of the Schiller Institute, a think tank in France, Christina Bierre expressed in an interview of a Chinese media that, China required US to shut down the Consulate in Chengdu was an imperative counteraction against the sudden request from US demanding China to close the Consulate General in Houston. At present, the epidemic in America is quite severe, the death toll is rising constantly, and thousands of people are losing their jobs. In that circumstance, the American people are extremely eager to reinforce the international cooperation of the economy and the public health. On the contrary, the US government is taking an opposite direction and adopting drastic anti-China attitude and measurements. That is, in fact, an insane bet for the election campaign.

The director general of Murayama Talks of Inheritance and Development Fujita Takakage said that, “the absurd decision made by the US government demanding China to close the Consulate General in Houston, is another trick designed for the election. It’s totally unreasonable.”

The New Zealand commentator Lu Bo regarded the Chinese action of closing the Chengdu Consulate as a clear signal to US that, China will resolutely counteract the  outrageous and unreasonable behavior of  the US.

The founder of the Philippine Brics Policy Research Institute Hermann Laurel said that, the Chinese government has maintained considerable patience and restraint all along facing the provocation and unfriendliness of US. But meanwhile, the US government took further intensified actions countering against China, considering about the election. At present, the international community should and must call on the US government to keep a cool head and return back to the cooperative approach.