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By GAVIN BADE 07/23/2020 01:58 PM EDT Updated: 07/23/2020 05:49 PM EDT
The head of the Chinese Consulate in Houston won’t commit to closing the office — a direct threat of defiance to the State Department’s demand that it be shut down by Friday. In a wide-ranging interview with POLITICO, Cai Wei, the Chinese Consul General in Houston, said China is protesting the closure order and his office will remain open “until further notice.” GAVIN BADE 美国东部时间2020年7月23日01:58 更新： 美国东部时间2020年7月23日05:49
机翻译文：
中国驻休斯敦领事馆负责人不会承诺关闭办公室，这是对美国国务院要求在周五关闭办公室的直接威胁。 中国驻休斯敦总领事馆司长蔡炜在接受POLITICO的广泛采访时说，中国正在抗议关闭令，他的办公室将“直到另行通知才开放”。 他拒绝进一步阐述，他说：“今天我们仍在正常运转，所以我们将看到明天会发生什么。”
蔡说，北京已要求美国撤销其周二的命令以关闭领事馆，中国认为这违反了有关外交关系的国际协议。 “我们认为美方的要求……不符合《维也纳领事事务公约》，也不符合国际惯例或[外交]规范，违反了中美领事条约。” “我们为最糟糕的情况做准备，但我们也发起了强烈抗议……因此我们敦促美国放弃并撤销这一错误决定。” 蔡的讲话之际，《南华早报》报道说，北京可能关闭美国驻西南城市成都的领事馆，鉴于美国对西藏的兴趣，这对美国具有战略意义。但休斯敦领事馆负责人拒绝评论北京应如何应对关闭办公室的命令。 蔡强调，他是中国政府在休斯敦的首席代表，但中国专家表示，他不太有权自行决定是否让领事馆开放。 政治经济学和社会学教授霍凤峰（Ho-Fung Hung）说：“如果使馆本身可以不听北京决定，我将感到非常惊讶。” “他们必须等待北京方面的命令，如果北京和美国一直在通过反向渠道[商讨]讨论局势，我不会感到惊讶。” 他补充说：“北京可能在最后一刻向领事馆发出指示。” 中国驻华盛顿大使馆没有立即回应置评请求。 专家表示，拒绝关闭领事馆在美中关系史上将是前所未有的，并指出，即使美国政府在美国于2017年关闭其两个外交附件时也没有抵抗。 霍普金斯大学外交政策研究所所长卡拉·弗里曼说：“我将蔡的评论解释为，将动荡的局势描述为不仅仅是威胁。” “因为（不关闭领事馆）将是前所未有的。” 但是，如果中国确实设法使领事馆保持开放，专家们说，美国可以撤销蔡及其职员的签证，允许联邦人员逮捕并可能将其驱逐出境。目前尚不清楚关闭的要求是否包括蔡先生及其工作人员的开除，但他告诉POLITICO他没有立即离开该国的计划。
蔡国忠发表讲话后数小时，国务卿迈克·蓬佩奥（Mike Pompeo）发表激进性演讲，谴责中国政府并称其为“间谍和[知识产权]盗窃的枢纽”，为关闭领事馆辩护。但是庞培没有解决使领事馆开放的威胁，国务院也没有回应置评要求，如果中国拒绝关闭领馆可能造成什么后果。 美国其他官员还指责中国驻休斯敦领事馆是美国共产党间谍活动的一部分。情报和对外关系委员会成员马可·卢比奥（R-Fla。）星期三在推特上说：该办公室是“共产党在美国庞大的间谍和影响力行动网络的中心节点”。 蔡拒绝了这些主张，称领事馆的活动符合国际协议，与包括美国在内的其他国家的行动没有任何不同。他驳回了当地新闻报道，称领事馆工作人员于星期二在大院内烧毁机密文件。国务院命令的字眼。 他说：“我们从未这样做过。” “我们所做的是非常合法的，并遵守法律和正常惯例。” 他说，领事馆没有进行间谍活动，而是从事“面具外交”。蔡于今年8月被派往休斯敦，他说，他已经安排将中国的口罩运到休斯敦，甚至到佐治亚州。 他说：“关于冠状病毒大流行，我们没有对这里发生的事情发表任何评论。但是，我们知道有些人需要帮助，也需要帮助，所以这就是我们送口罩的原因。” 总领事继续谴责美国官员的“双重标准”，认为将中国面具捐赠视为提高中国执政共产党形象的“隐性议程”，他说，对来自其他国家的慈善组织的批评并不那么严格。 他说：“我们不能有双重标准。不管你喜不喜欢，中国都是一个共产党国家。我们的政府是中国共产党，对此我们感到非常自豪。” 洪说，如果中国周五拒绝关闭使馆，洪总统说，唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）总统可能会欢迎这两个最大经济体之间的僵持。唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）在他的连任努力失败时加大了对北京的言论。 另一方面，中国国家主席习近平正面临来自国内精英阶层的压力，要求其与美国的紧张局势升级，以避免施加更多的金融制裁和签证限制。他说，这些处罚已经挤压了富有的，有联系的共产党员，他们把大部分财富留在海外。 洪金said说：“习近平对他对美国采取非常强硬和侵略性的态度已经开始面临来自其他精英和领导人的压力。” “他有本能表明自己是一个强硬的家伙，但与此同时，我相信越来越多的中国精英人士看到，他们的利益因与美国在香港或其他方面的冲突而受到损害。”
“Today we are still operating normally, so we will see what will happen tomorrow,” he said, declining to elaborate further.
Cai said Beijing has asked the U.S. to rescind its Tuesday order to close the consulate, which China argues runs afoul of international agreements governing diplomatic relations. “We think that the demand from the U.S. side … is not according to the Vienna convention on consular affairs and also is not according to international practice or [diplomatic] norms, and it violates the China-U.S. consular treaty,” Cai said. “We prepared for the worst scenario but we’ve also launched a strong protest … so we urge the U.S. to abandon and revoke that wrong decision.” Cai’s remarks came as the South China Morning Post reported that Beijing is likely to close a U.S. consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu, which is strategically important for the U.S. given its interest in Tibet. But the head of the Houston consulate declined to comment on how Beijing should respond to the order to close his office. Cai stressed that he is the head representative of the Chinese government in Houston, but China experts said he is unlikely to have the authority to decide on his own whether to keep the consulate open. “I would be very surprised if the consulate itself can decide without listening to Beijing,” said Ho-Fung Hung, a professor of political economy and sociology who focuses on China at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. “They must be waiting for orders from Beijing with respect to what to do, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Beijing and the U.S. have been [talking] through the backchannels, discussing the situation.” “Beijing might give instruction to the consulate at the last minute on what to do,” he added. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Experts said that a refusal to close the consulate would be unprecedented in the history of U.S.-China relations, noting that even the Russian government did not resist when the U.S. closed two of its diplomatic annexes in 2017. “I interpret [Cai's] comments as more as describing a fluid situation as more than a threat,” said Carla Freeman, director of the Foreign Policy Institute at Hopkins. “Because [not closing the consulate] would be completely unprecedented.” But if China does try to keep its consulate open, the experts said the U.S. could revoke visas for Cai and his staff, allowing federal agents to arrest and potentially deport them. It was unclear whether the closure demand included expulsion of Cai and his staff, but he told POLITICO that he had no immediate plans to leave the country.
Hours after Cai's comments, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave an aggressive speech decrying the Chinese government and justifying the consulate closure by calling it "a hub of spying and [intellectual property] theft." But Pompeo did not address the threat to keep the consulate open, and the State Department did not respond to a request for comment on what consequences it can impose if China refuses to close it. Other U.S. officials have also accused the Chinese Consulate in Houston of being a part of a Communist Party espionage operation in the U.S. On Wednesday, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a member of the Intelligence and Foreign Relations committees, tweeted that the office is the “central node of the Communist Party’s vast network of spies & influence operations in the United States.” Cai rejected those claims, saying that the consulate’s activities comply with international agreements and do not differ from the actions of other nations, including the U.S. And he dismissed local news reports that consular staff were burning classified documents in the compound’s courtyard on Tuesday, after getting word of the State Department’s order. “We have never done this,” he said, referring to espionage. “What we have done is very legal and follows the law and normal practice.” Instead of espionage, he said the consulate has been engaged in "mask diplomacy." Cai, who was posted to Houston in August, said he has arranged for masks from China to be delivered to Houston and as far away as Georgia. “We didn’t make any comments on what happened here" regarding the coronavirus pandemic, he said. "But we knew that some people needed assistance, and needed help, so that’s why we sent the masks." The Consul General went on to decry the "double standard" of U.S. officials viewing Chinese mask donations as a "hidden agenda" to boost the image of China's ruling Communist Party, saying charity from other nations is not viewed so critically. “We cannot have a double standard," he said. "China is a communist country whether you like it or not. Our government is the Chinese Communist Party, and we are very proud of this.” If China does refuse to close the embassy Friday, Hung said a standoff between the two largest economies would likely be welcomed by President Donald Trump, who has stepped up his rhetoric against Beijing as his reelection effort falters. Chinese President Xi Jinping, on the other hand, is facing pressure from elites at home to deescalate tensions with the U.S. to avoid the imposition of more financial sanctions and visa restrictions. Those penalties are already squeezing wealthy, connected members of the Communist Party who keep much of their wealth overseas, he said. “Xi Jinping has been starting to face pressure from other elites and leaders over his very tough and aggressive approach to the U.S.,” Hung said. “He has the instincts to show that he is a tough guy, but at the same time I believe there are increasing numbers of Chinese elites that see their interests hurt by conflict with the U.S. over Hong Kong or other things.”
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