Beijing calls on US to abolish 'revolting' decision to close Chinese consulate in Houston

Earlier in the day, Global Times editor-in-chief wrote on Twitter that the US government orders closing the diplomatic mission within 72 hours.

"This is a US unilateral political provocation, it is a grave violation of the international law, the key regulations related to international relations and the bilateral consular agreement between China and the US. China firmly condemns this revolting and unjustified move, undermining the Chinese-US relations ... China calls on the US to immediately abolish this erroneous decision," Wang said at a briefing, If the decision is not canceled, China will certainly retaliate, the diplomat warned.

Wang also refuted Washington's claims about the lack of reciprocity in the US-Chinese relations.

"The US claims that there is no reciprocity in the US-Chinese relations, but this is just an old and meaningless excuse of the United States. In fact, if we talk about the number of diplomatic missions and the number of diplomatic staff in each other's country, the US is significantly ahead of China," Wang stressed.

When asked to comment on media reports that documents were being burned in the courtyard of the Chinese consulate, Wang stated that the "the consulate general functions in a normal mode."