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U.S. Orders Closure of Chinese Consulate in Houston: Documents Burned in Barrels in Response

posted by martyb on Wednesday July 22 2020, @06:35PM   
from the US-consulates-ordered-closed-in-3...2... dept.

takyon writes:

U.S. Orders China to Close Its Houston Consulate in 72 Hours (archive)

The United States ordered China to close its diplomatic consulate in Houston, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday, dealing another blow to the rapidly deteriorating relations between the two countries.

In the hours after the Trump administration notified the Chinese of its decision, smoke was seen billowing from a courtyard inside the consulate as employees dumped what appeared to be documents into flaming barrels, according to a video posted by KPRC-TV, a local television station.

The Houston police and fire departments responded to reports of a fire on Tuesday evening but did not enter the building, over which the Chinese have sovereignty.

Also at BBC and CNBC.

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Original Submission

• Re:This aught to be fun Re:This aught to be fun (Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday July 22 2020, @08:45PM (2 children)

  by Phoenix666 (552) on Wednesday July 22 2020, @08:45PM (#1025109) Journal

  China doesn't want to deal with the economic fallout of losing the biggest market for their goods on the planet. That's why they keep on propping up the US government and the US dollar.

  Agreed. China depends very much on selling to the US to keep their people employed. They have been walking a tightrope for some years now, such that if their economic growth falls below 8%, I think it is, then the social unrest becomes untenable, but if it climbs into the double digits then they risk their economy overheating. They have been trying to buffer that dynamic by requiring investment to target central Chinese provinces and cities, in order to stimulate their domestic market, but that hasn't really panned out and meanwhile they have forbidden the development of civil society like the West enjoys because it's a challenge to government power.

  The US doesn't and probably couldn't deal with the economic fallout of losing access to China's import goods. That's why they keep on letting the Chinese do pretty much whatever they want.

  That's less true now than it was 10 years ago. Companies have begun to branch out from China to Vietnam, the Philippines, and other places with lower labor costs. There are also still plenty of Americans with the skills and desire to start companies in the US to manufacture consumer goods, if only the policy from Washington weren't constantly undermining them. At the end of the day, it really isn't difficult to set up injection molding to mass produce plastic wares, and you can do it affordably if you don't have a union monkey on your back (for example, the cost of the UAW contracts adds something like $5K to every vehicle made by the Big 3 and puts them at a significant disadvantage on price).

  --
  Washington DC delenda est.

  Parent

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• Re:This aught to be fun Re:This aught to be fun (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 26 2020, @08:26AM (1 child)

  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 26 2020, @08:26AM (#1026498)

  civil society like the West enjoys

  Mod that funny!

  Parent

  • Re:This aught to be fun (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 26 2020, @08:59AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 26 2020, @08:59AM (#1026502)

    Riotous Portlanders are the exception, not the rule.

    Parent