Flare-ups between the United States and China make the news regularly, and always have. But in recent weeks, the tenor and intensity of the historic antagonism has increased to what even experts say are unprecedented levels since the normalization of relations between the two powers decades ago.Below is a continuously updated rundown of all the recent developments in the fraught geopolitical relationship that have left observers whispering a heretofore unthinkable phrase: cold war.
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July 27: Official U.S. consulate closure in Chengdu Monday's deadline arrived and the American flag was lowered at the Chengdu consulate at 6:18am, Chinese state broadcaster CGTN declared on its official Sina Weibo account. It also reported the exit of embassy staff and a "heavy police presence" around the building. A wall plaque was also removed. Responding to an order for it to shutter its consulate in Houston, Texas, China ordered the U.S. to similarly shut down its consulate in the Chinese city of Chengdu. In a statement, China’s Foreign Ministry defended its actions, maintaining that “responsibility rests entirely” with the U.S.The United States on Wednesday announced in a statement that it had ordered China to close its consulate in Houston, Texas, “in order to protect American intellectual property and American's [sic] private information.” The news came after local news reports from Tuesday night of firefighters responding to reports of smoke rising from the consulate, with footage taken from over the building’s walls appearing to show workers inside burning documents.China called the order to close the consulate “an unprecedented escalation,” and vowed to retaliate.
In an official statement, China's Foreign Ministry said that Chinese staff had entered the building and "took over", signalling the official closure of American operations in the capital of southwestern Sichuan province.
The highly-watched move was carried out in retaliation against a recent U.S. move to shutter a Chinese consulate in Texas.
July 24: China orders U.S. consulate closure
July 22: U.S. orders China consulate closure
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July 21: Indictments against Chinese spies
July 20: Uighur-related sanctions
July 15: Visa restrictions
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The move came after the United Kingdom announced it was banning Huawei from its 5G telecom network the day before, citing previous U.S. sanctions against the company that had created uncertainty around Huawei’s supply chain.U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order putting an end to the preferential status for Hong Kong in retaliation for China’s “aggressive actions against the people of Hong Kong,” including its imposition of a dreaded national security law. The order directs officials to revoke license exceptions for exports to Hong Kong and to end special treatment for Hong Kong passport holders."No special privileges, no special economic treatment and no export of sensitive technologies," Trump said in a news conference. “Hong Kong will now be treated the same as mainland China.”The same day, Trump signed the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, which allows for penalties on Chinese banks doing business with officials behind Hong Kong’s security law, as well as on the officials themselves.China announced sanctions on four U.S. officials—Republican senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, Republican Representative Chris Smith, and ambassador-at-large Sam Brownback—in retaliation for similar sanctions imposed by the U.S. against Chinese officials over human rights abuses in Xinjiang. In a statement, a Chinese spokesperson demanded the U.S. “stop any words and deeds that interfere in China’s internal affairs and harm China’s interest.”Also on July 13, the U.S. formally hardened its stance on the South China Sea. The U.S has long objected to China's claims to the Sea, but it made it official in a statement saying it was formally aligning its policies with a 2016 international court ruling finding China’s claims legally indefensible. “Beijing’s approach has been clear for years,” Secretary of State Pompeo said at the time, accusing China of pursuing a philosophy of “might makes right” to undermine the rights of other nations with legally established claims to the Sea, like the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
July 14: Tensions over Hong Kong
July 13: South China Sea stance
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