China denies its consulate in Houston stole intellectual property
Beijing, Jul 23 (efe-epa).- China denied today that its consulate in Houston (Texas) has stolen intellectual property or information from US companies, and returned to promise “retaliation” for the closure of the diplomatic office amid new accusations of espionage by the United States.
Washington gave Beijing 72 hours on Wednesday to close its consulate in Houston to “protect American intellectual property and the private information of its citizens.”
“These accusations are malicious and their sole objective is to defame China. The closure of the consulate is a completely unjustified move, and China reserves the right to retaliate,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin today.
Wang avoided answering questions about what such countermeasures will be and, at the insistence of journalists, simply read the text of the previous day several times: “We ask the US to retract this erroneous decision, or China will take legitimate and necessary retaliation. ”
The Chinese state press has hinted at the possibility that China will react with the closure of one of the US consulates and explicitly cited the options of Hong Kong, Macao, Canton or Chengdu, although another possibility would be the closure of the US consulate. from the Chinese city of Wuhan for being the “brother” consulate of that of Houston.
US President Donald Trump, who is running for reelection in the November elections, has repeatedly blamed China for the pandemic and in recent weeks has imposed various sanctions on the Asian giant.
In this regard, the China Daily newspaper opines today in an editorial that the closure is “a political maneuver” of the current US administration consisting of “painting China as the bad guy and banning it from the international community” in order to turn it around to the polls with a view to the elections.
“Trump is going to go all the way with his portrayal of China as an agent of evil,” the newspaper argues.
This week, the US has already sanctioned eleven Chinese companies for alleged abuse of Muslim minorities in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang, and has also filed charges against two Chinese “hackers” who were allegedly trying to steal vaccine data for the COVID-19 and secrets of military technology.
Underlying the differences between the two powers is the underlying struggle for hegemony, the technological and trade war and, more recently, the US criticism of the new security law for Hong Kong and the situation in Xinjiang. EFE-EPA
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