U.S. closes consulate in Chengdu

A security official at the U.S. consulate in Chengdu.

(Image credit: Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)

published 27 July 2020

The United States announced late Sunday night that it has closed its consulate in Chengdu, China.

On Thursday, the Chinese government ordered the consulate shuttered in retaliation for the United States telling China earlier in the week that it had to close its consulate in Houston. U.S. officials accused China of using the consulate to engage in economic espionage, a charge Beijing denied.

The Chengdu consulate "stood at the center of our relations with the people in western China, including Tibet, for 35 years," the State Department said in a statement. It was one of five U.S. consulates in mainland China, and the State Department said it plans to use its other missions to continue outreach in the region.

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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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