By Anna Fifield July 22, 2020 at 5:14 p.m. GMT+7 Washington Post
CHANGSHA, China — The United States has ordered China to close its consulate general in Houston “in order to protect American intellectual property and American’s private information,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said Wednesday.
Beijing vowed to retaliate, calling the order “an unprecedented escalation” in a broader conflict between the world’s two biggest economies, which now encompasses trade and technology, freedom of the press and religion, and the coronavirus and the race for a vaccine.
