China has ordered the closure of US Consulate in Chengdu and will that mean a free ride for human rights abuse in Tibet? In retaliation of US order to close down a Chinese consulate, the Beijing authorities on Monday shut down the US consulate. The reaction could mean the loss of a key office that gathers information on human rights violation in Tibet.
China’s closing on Monday of the U.S. consulate in Chengdu, a move taken in retaliation for Washington’s shutdown last week of a Chinese consulate in Houston, will now hamper U.S. efforts to gather data on human rights violations in Tibet and other Tibetan-populated areas of western China, sources said according to the report by Radio Free Asia.
Closure of the Chengdu consulate will now hamper U.S. ability to collect information on the human rights situation in Tibet and in northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region according the Sophie Richardson—China director at the New York-based group Human Rights Watch according to the report.
“From the perspective of gathering good information about what’s going on in relation to Tibetan areas and Uyghur areas, this is a real problem,” Richardson said, “That consulate has really been an important post for years in collecting first-hand information, and it’s not clear whether or when the State Department will be able to resume that operation in particular,”.
Washington has earlier said the Chinese Consulate in Houston was directed to close “in order to protect American intellectual property and Americans’ private information” but did not provide additional details. The consulate had been ordered to be shut in 72 hours. Beijing reacted quickly by warning of serious counter measures if the order was not reversed.
There has been rising tensions between the US and China for some time now. President Donald Trump’s administration has clashed repeatedly with the communist party over trade as well as the Coronavirus pandemic issue. Recently China’s imposition of the controversial national security law on Hong Kong was revolted by US.