The national flags of China and the United States. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
A former US diplomat and expert on China has called for the reopening of United States and Chinese consulates that were shut in each country during a period of heightened strains in relations.
David Firestein, who had worked at the US embassy in Beijing in 1993-97 and 2002-03, and now serves as president and CEO of the George H.W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations, made the appeal during a discussion about the bilateral relationship hosted recently by the Asia Society Texas Center, or ASTC, in Houston.
In July, the Chinese consulate general in the Texas city was closed under a unilateral decision by the administration of then-president Donald Trump. The Houston consulate was the first that China established in the US after the 1979 normalization of the two countries' relations. In response to the Trump action, China closed the US consulate in Chengdu, Sichuan province, days later.
"We've got to get our consulates back in operation. Speaking from a US perspective, we need that consulate general (in Chengdu) in order to support our commercial and other interests in Southwest China, including in Sichuan province, which is a booming province on the scale of a nation in terms of economic output," Firestein told the audience at virtual event on Thursday.
In comments to China Daily, he said, "The consulates serve an important bridging function in the business and cultural spheres in a whole variety of ways. With the loss of the two consulates, both countries have suffered a serious blow."
"In my judgment, net-net, the United States didn't gain anything by closing down the Chinese consulate, particularly considering China's reciprocal closure of the US consulate general in Chengdu."
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Citing the "greatly reduced ability of the US mission in China to support US companies operating in Southwest China", Firestein said it's clear that the closures have undermined, not advanced US interests.
The consulates serve an important bridging function in the business and cultural spheres in a whole variety of ways. With the loss of the two consulates, both countries have suffered a serious blow.
David Firestein, Former US embassy in Beijing in 1993-97 and 2002-03, president and CEO of the George H.W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations
Frustration expressed
Firestein said many US citizens who live within the Houston consular district are frustrated by the closure. "What I am hearing is that it's been extremely disruptive for business people and educators seeking to travel to China and other Americans who need to deal with China in the course of their daily lives," he said.
Charles Foster, founding chair of the ASTC and chairman of US China Partnerships of Houston, agrees with the former diplomat.
"The Chinese consulate general in Houston should never have been shut and it should be reopened, hopefully as part of some of the early discussions with the Chinese government on a reciprocal basis so that China and the US agree to reopen both of our consulates at the same time," Foster told China Daily.
Foster said the US can have serious disagreements with a foreign government, but it was inappropriate to close the consulate.
"It's an act a responsible government takes when you have broken diplomatic relations or as a prelude to war, which obviously are the most extreme acts, which not even the Trump administration would have contemplated," he said.
Foster, who was on hand for then-Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's historic 1979 visit to Houston, said it was a point of pride for Houston that the first Chinese consulate was in Houston. He said the facility was "a necessary conduit for US companies to do business in the fastest-growing market in the world".
"Having had the opportunity on multiple occasions to interact with a variety of Chinese consuls general and other senior officials for decades, I've never heard or had any reason to believe that they were doing anything other than what diplomats do worldwide," he said.
"In my opinion, the closing of the consulate general of China was almost entirely a politically driven decision made in the context of the presidential campaign."
Firestein said the restoration of the two consulates would be a meaningful and appropriate confidence-building measure that could help 'reset' the US-China relationship, both substantively and tonally, at least to a certain degree.
"In the US, there are many stakeholders hoping to see the US and China get back to a functional, constructive and results-oriented relationship. Restoring the operations of the two consulates would be a welcome step in that direction."
