A mini tourist atmosphere prevailed outside the facility on a tree-lined street on a hot Sunday, as onlookers shared sidewalk space with dozens of uniformed and plainclothes police opposite the entrance.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

In the more than 40 years since China and the US established formal diplomatic relations, accusations have been traded, tensions have risen and fallen and the two sides have come dangerously close to outright confrontation.

Yet the forced closure of the Chinese Consulate in Houston and China's order in response to shutter the US Consulate in the Chinese city of Chengdu mark a new low point in ties between the world's largest economies that can't easily be smoothed over.

Mistrust and rancor surrounding disputes over alleged technology theft, national security, human rights, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the South China Sea are now the main drivers in a relationship that had long sought to compartmentalize such issues to prevent them from impeding trade ties and cooperation in managing issues such as North Korea's nuclear program and conflicts in the Middle East and Africa.

A State Department statement expressed disappointment, saying the consulate "has stood at the center of our relations with the people in Western China, including Tibet, for 35 years."

"We are disappointed by the Chinese Communist Party's decision and will strive to continue our outreach to the people in this important region through our other posts in China," it said.

China's foreign ministry issued a brief notice saying "competent authorities" entered through the front entrance and took over the premises after US diplomats closed it at 10 a.m. Prior to that, the flag was lowered and workmen began removing plaques and other signs of US sovereignty on the compound's exterior.

Police asked people to move on when crowds formed outside the consulate, as onlookers took photos and videos of what they expected would be the last time to see the compound in US hands. The street was closed to traffic, except for consular or police vehicles let through by police.

In Houston on Friday a group of men accompanied by a US State Department official were seen forcing open a door at the Chinese Consulate, shortly after the US closure order took effect for a facility that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called "a hub of spying and intellectual property theft."

The US has also alleged that the Houston consulate was a nest of Chinese spies who tried to steal data from facilities in Texas, including the Texas A&M medical system and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. China said the allegations were "malicious slander."

On Sunday, China's foreign ministry issued a statement of protest over what it called intrusions into the Houston consulate that violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the China-US Consular Convention.

"The Chinese side deplores and firmly opposes the US move of forcibly entering China's Consulate General in Houston and has lodged solemn representations. China will make legitimate and necessary reactions," the statement said.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

China maintains consulates in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York in addition to its embassy in Washington.

The US has four other consulates in China and an embassy in Beijing, keeping the sides in parity in terms of diplomatic missions.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters at a daily briefing Monday that the shutdown was a "legitimate and necessary response to the unreasonable act" of the closure of the Houston consulate and the entry of US authorities into it.

"We urge the US to immediately correct its mistakes and create necessary conditions for the relationship between the two countries to return to the normal track," Wang said.

The post Consulate closures an inflection point in China-US relations appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The move was a response to the Trump administration's order this week for Beijing to close its consulate in Houston after Washington accused Chinese agents of trying to steal medical and other research in Texas.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The Chinese foreign ministry appealed to Washington to reverse its "wrong decision."

Chinese-US relations have soured amid a mounting array of conflicts including trade, the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, technology, spying accusations, Hong Kong, and allegations of abuses against Chinese Muslims.

"The measure taken by China is a legitimate and necessary response to the unjustified act by the United States," said a foreign ministry statement.

"The current situation in Chinese-US relations is not what China desires to see. The United States is responsible for all this," the ministry said. "We once again urge the United States to immediately retract its wrong decision and create necessary conditions for bringing the bilateral relationship back on track."

On Tuesday, the Trump administration ordered the Houston consulate closed within 72 hours. It alleged Chinese agents tried to steal data from facilities including the Texas A&M medical system.

The ministry on Thursday rejected the allegations as "malicious slander" and warned the Houston consulate's closure was "breaking down the bridge of friendship" between the two countries.

The United States has an embassy in Beijing and consulates in five other mainland cities – Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenyang, and Wuhan. It also has a consulate in Hong Kong, a Chinese territory.

The consulate in Chengdu is responsible for monitoring Tibet and other areas in the southwest inhabited by non-ethnic Chinese minorities that are considered especially sensitive by Beijing.

A source had previously told Reuters that China was considering shutting the US consulate in Wuhan, where the United States withdrew staff early this year as the coronavirus outbreak raged.

A state newspaper editor had suggested that China could order a dramatic scale-back of staff at the US consulate in Hong Kong.

"The Chengdu consulate is more important than the Wuhan consulate because that is where the US gathers information about Tibet and China's development of strategic weapons in neighboring regions," said Wu Xinbo, a professor and American studies expert at Fudan University in Shanghai.

He said the Chengdu consulate was less important for trade and economic activity than US consulates in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong.

Asian stock markets, already uneasy about the uncertain pace of recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, fell Friday on the news of the closure. China's market benchmark, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 3.1%. Hong Kong's main index declined by 2.4%.

"Alongside the eviction of the Houston Chinese Consulate, the risk of the US-China conflict escalating into a 'Cold War' is worrying," said Hayaki Narita of Mizuho Bank in a report.

The consulate in Chengdu was in the news in 2012 when Wang Lijun, the police chief of the major city of Chongqing, visited and told American officials his concerns about the death of a British business associate of the wife of Chongqing's Communist Party secretary, Bo Xilai.

That prompted the British Embassy to ask for a new investigation, which led to the arrest and conviction of Bo's wife. Bo was later dismissed and sentenced to prison.

The consulate was surrounded by police while Wang was inside. He later emerged and was arrested and sentenced to 15 years on charges of corruption and defection. The US government has refused to confirm whether Wang asked for asylum.

Also Thursday, the US Justice Department said it believes the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco is harboring a Chinese researcher, Tang Juan, who is accused of lying about her background in the Communist Party's military wing on a visa application.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The department announced criminal charges of visa fraud against Tang and three other Chinese researchers.

US authorities this week announced criminal charges against two Chinese computer hackers who are accused of targeting companies that are working on vaccines for the coronavirus.

The Justice Department said Tang lied on a visa application last October as she made plans to work at the University of California, Davis, and again during an FBI interview months later.

US officials including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have stepped up accusations of technology theft. In a speech Thursday, Pompeo said some Chinese students and others "come here to steal our intellectual property and to take this back to their country."

The post China tells US to close consulate in Chengdu in growing spat appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The US State Department said on Wednesday the Chinese mission in Houston was being closed "to protect American intellectual property and Americans' private information."

 Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

US President Donald Trump said in an answer to a question at a news briefing it was "always possible" other Chinese missions could be closed too.

"We thought there was a fire in one that we did close," Trump said. "I guess they were burning documents, or burning papers, and I wonder what that's all about."

Overnight in Houston, firefighters went to the consulate after smoke was seen. Two US government officials said they had information that documents were being burned there.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the consulate was operating normally.

The ministry said Washington had abruptly issued the demand to close the consulate on Tuesday and called it an "unprecedented escalation."

The Chinese Embassy in Washington had received "bomb and death threats" because of "smears & hatred" fanned by the US government, spokeswoman Hua Chunying wrote in a tweet.

As a result of smears & hatred fanned up by the #US gov, the Chinese embassy has received #bomb & #DeathThreats.

— Hua Chunying 华春莹 (@SpokespersonCHN) July 22, 2020

"The US should revoke its erroneous decision," she said. "China will surely react with firm countermeasures."

Communist Party rulers in Beijing were considering shutting the US consulate in the central city of Wuhan in retaliation, a source with knowledge of the matter said.

US-based China experts said Beijing could also opt to target more important consulates in Hong Kong, Shanghai, or Guangzhou, something that could hurt American businesses.

Richard Grenell, who served until recently as acting director of US national intelligence, suggested the United States could close the Chinese consulate in tech-heavy San Francisco.

"It's a close call. I would have done both (Houston and San Francisco) but it also makes sense to start with one," he told Reuters by text.

The Houston move comes in the run-up to the November US presidential election, in which Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, have both tried to look tough on China.

Speaking on a visit to Denmark, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo repeated accusations about Chinese theft of US and European intellectual property, which he said were costing "hundreds of thousands of jobs."

While offering no specifics about the Houston consulate, Pompeo referred to a US Justice Department indictment on Tuesday of two Chinese nationals over what it called a decade-long cyber espionage campaign that targeted defense contractors, COVID-19 researchers, and hundreds of other victims worldwide.

Pompeo also referred to recent speeches by the head of the FBI and others that highlighted Chinese espionage activities.

"President Trump has said: 'Enough. We are not going to allow this to continue to happen,'" he told reporters.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, described the Houston consulate on Twitter as the "central node of the Communist Party's vast network of spies & influence operations in the United States."

#China's consulate in #Houston is not a diplomatic facility. It is the central node of the Communist Party's vast network of spies & influence operations in the United States. Now that building must close & the spies have 72 hours to leave or face arrest.

This needed to happen.

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 22, 2020

The New York Times quoted the top US diplomat for East Asia, David Stilwell, as saying that the Houston consulate had been at the "epicenter" of the Chinese army's efforts to advance its warfare advantages by sending students to US universities.

"We took a practical step to prevent them from doing that," Stilwell told NYT.

Stephen Biegun, the State Department's number two diplomat, told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee the decision was made in response to "longstanding areas of concern."

He said these included intellectual property theft and commercial espionage, as well as unequal treatment of US diplomats, exporters, investors and media in China, and abuse by China's security services of the welcoming US posture toward Chinese students and researchers.

A Chinese diplomat, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, denied the spying allegations and said the Houston mission acted like other Chinese consulates in the United States – issuing visas, and promoting visits and businesses.

US-China ties have worsened sharply this year over issues ranging from the coronavirus and telecoms-gear maker Huawei to China's territorial claims in the South China Sea and the clampdown on Hong Kong.

Jonathan Pollack, an East Asia expert with the Brookings Institution, said he could not think of anything "remotely equivalent" to the move against the Houston consulate since the US and China opened full diplomatic relations in 1979.

"The Trump Administration appears to view this latest action as political ammunition in the presidential campaign... It's part of the administration's race to the bottom against China," he said.

A source with direct knowledge of the matter said China was considering closing the US consulate in Wuhan, where the State Department withdrew staff and their families early this year due to the coronavirus outbreak that first emerged in the city.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it would shut the consulate.

Wang said the US government had been harassing Chinese diplomats and consular staff for some time and intimidating Chinese students. He said the United States had interfered with China's diplomatic missions, including intercepting diplomatic pouches. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment on the Chinese accusations.

The post US orders China to shut Houston consulate, further moves 'always possible' says Trump appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The newly renamed Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum is the latest in the US to broaden its permanent exhibit and embolden its efforts to inspire visitors to take action to make the world a better place.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

"We're hoping that in the moments that they finish this journey they will be thinking: What can I do? How can I make a difference in my community?" said Mary Pat Higgins, the museum's president and CEO.

Expanding the focus to include more recent atrocities and human rights struggles helps draw in more visitors to be reminded that the lessons from the Holocaust are still relevant.

The museum set to open in Dallas, Texas on Sept. 18 is five times bigger than its older location – a jump from 6,000 square feet (557 sq. meters) to 55,000 square feet (5,110 sq. meters). Museum officials hope to see 200,000 visitors a year – more than double the previous figure.

The Holocaust Museum Houston has already seen a spike in visitors since reopening in June after a renovation and expansion that more than doubled its size. The primary focus of the original museum was the Holocaust, but it now details other genocides and has tributes to human rights leaders including Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, who as a child in Pakistan began advocating for girls' education.

"We look at it like this, if we can get them in the door and attract them in – it might be something like social activism – then they can also benefit from learning about the Holocaust when they're here," said Kelly Zúñiga, CEO of the Houston museum.

In Cincinnati, the Nancy and David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center's move in January into Union Terminal train station meant that it could include a gallery showcasing people who have made positive changes in their community. "We examine individuals who stood up and who seized the moment and we talk about their character strengths," said Jodi Elowitz, the center's education director.

Two years ago the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie, Illinois opened as part of its permanent exhibit at the Take a Stand Center, which is focused on human rights. "Hopefully they're getting knowledge, they're finding their passion or their particular cause or issue that they're interested in," said Kelley Szany, vice president of education and exhibitions for the museum.

The Dallas museum's orientation video asks the question: Why should visitors care?

"The rest of the museum goes on to not answer the question because we don't provide answers. We do provide direction. We expect you to be able to answer the question however you were impacted," said Eddie Jacobs, who designed the exhibit with fellow Berenbaum Jacobs Associates founder Dr. Michael Berenbaum.

The gallery detailing genocides that happened before and after the Holocaust uses sculpture and graphic novels to help visitors understand the tactics that led to the mass killings. The sculpture on the mass murder of Tutsis by the Hutus in Rwanda in 1994 includes machetes and victims' racial identification cards. A graphic novel notes that polarization tactics that led to the genocide included Tutsis being referred to as cockroaches, pointing out that the Nazis portrayed Jews as rats and poisonous mushrooms.

The last stage of the visit turns to the US for an exploration of how American ideals compare to reality, Berenbaum said. Visitors use interactive touchscreens to explore their own attitudes and biases. As they end their visit, they can learn about volunteer opportunities.

"The Holocaust is remembered. The question then becomes deeper: How is it remembered and what are we to do with that memory?" Berenbaum said.

Max Glauben, who as a Jewish teenager from Poland spent time in Nazi concentration camps, where his parents and brother were killed, helped found the Dallas museum. Glauben, who immigrated to the US after WWII, hopes that the museum inspires people to take inventory of their own lives.

"Maybe after seeing all this they realize that maybe we should become better," said Glauben, 91.

The post Dallas Holocaust museum takes visitors from WWII to today appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.