Consulate General Of The United States, Chengdu
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The Consulate General of the United States, Chengdu, () was a
diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes ...
in Wuhou District, Chengdu, China from 1985 to 2020. This was one of seven American diplomatic and consular posts in China. The consular district included the provinces of
Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...
,
Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...
, and
Guizhou ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = Guizhou in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_alt = Map showing the location of Guizhou Province , map_caption = Map s ...
, the
Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), often shortened to Tibet in English or Xizang in Pinyin, Hanyu Pinyin, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China. It was established in 1965 to replace the ...
, and the prefecture-level city of
Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...
. On February 6, 2012, the Consulate General was the scene of the Wang Lijun incident. On July 24, 2020, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China is the first-ranked executive department of the State Council of China, responsible for the country's foreign relations. It is led by the minister of foreign affairs, currently ...
informed the US Embassy in China of its decision to withdraw its consent for the establishment and operation of the US Consulate General in Chengdu, in response to the United States government's decision to close the Chinese Consulate General in Houston. On July 27, 2020, the U.S. Consulate General in Chengdu was closed.


History

The consulate was opened by Vice President
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...
in 1985 in an annex of the Jinjiang Hotel. The consulate moved in 1993 to its own compound at #4, Lingshiguan Lu, where it remained until its closure. In 1993, the
Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...
began a program in China, headquartered in Chengdu. A Peace Corps Director and staff were posted in the city. From its beginning, the primary mission of Peace Corps China has been to assist in the training of young Chinese citizens to become English teachers in the rapidly increasing number of junior high schools of the area, specifically, in the relatively undeveloped provinces of Gansu, Guizhou, and Sichuan, as well as the municipality of Chongqing. There were eighteen teachers in the first group of Peace Corps China Volunteers, and they served in five teacher training institutions. Now, twenty years later, there are about 150 Volunteers teaching in 90 institutions. The consulate compound came under attack in May 1999 by crowds enraged by the US accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. The Consul General's Residence was heavily damaged by fire. In 2008,
Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza "Condi" Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist serving since 2020 as the 8th director of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served ...
was the first
US Secretary of State The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
to visit the consulate. She came in response to the massive Sichuan earthquake that killed approximately 80,000 people. Secretary Rice visited a relief camp in Dujiangyan, as well as an emergency water purification project donated by the United States. In February 2012, a Chinese official entered the US Consulate General in Chengdu, setting off a political scandal that led to the downfall of Chongqing Party Secretary
Bo Xilai Bo Xilai ( zh, s=薄熙来, p=Bó Xīlái; born 3 July 1949) is a Chinese former politician who was convicted on bribery and embezzlement charges. He came to prominence through his tenures as Mayor of Dalian and then the governor of Liaoning. ...
in what is now known as the Wang Lijun incident. The Consulate started with only six American officers and approximately 20 local employees. It was made up of an Executive Office (a Consul General and administrative assistant); a small office handling political, economic and commercial issues; a Consular Section; a Management Section, and what was then known as the U.S. Information Service. In 1985, each of the offices was covered by one American officer. The Consulate today has grown to 130 total staff. Approximately 100 of these are locally hired professional Chinese staff. On July 24, 2020, China revoked the license for the U.S. General Consulate in Chengdu, and ordered the general consulate to cease operations. This was in retaliation for the closure of the Chinese consulate-general in Houston, Texas, on July 22, 2020. The consulate was closed at 10:00 AM on July 27, 2020. Afterwards, Chinese authorities entered through the front entrance and took it over.


Bo Xilai corruption scandal

In February 2012, Wang Lijun, the vice-mayor of Chongqing, fled to the Consulate General of the United States in Chengdu, where he remained for around 24 hours, amid rumors of political infighting with Chongqing Communist Party secretary
Bo Xilai Bo Xilai ( zh, s=薄熙来, p=Bó Xīlái; born 3 July 1949) is a Chinese former politician who was convicted on bribery and embezzlement charges. He came to prominence through his tenures as Mayor of Dalian and then the governor of Liaoning. ...
, sparking off the Wang Lijun incident, which led to Bo's eventual ouster and trial.


Closure

On the morning of July 24, 2020, local time, "the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China is the first-ranked executive department of the State Council of China, responsible for the country's foreign relations. It is led by the minister of foreign affairs, currently ...
informed the US Embassy in China of its decision to withdraw its consent for the establishment and operation of the US Consulate General in Chengdu. The Ministry also made specific requirements on the ceasing of all operations and events by the Consulate General." The move was a response to the United States government's decision to close its consulate in Houston on grounds of national security. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that some Chengdu consulate personnel were "conducting activities not in line with their identities" and "had harmed China’s security interests", but would not elaborate. The White House had urged China earlier in the day to not engage in "tit-for-tat retaliation." In immediate reaction to the news of the closure, global stock indexes dropped. On July 27, 2020, the national flag of the US was lowered at the Consulate General in Chengdu at 6:18 AM local time by a detachment of US Marine Security Guards assigned with the role of protecting US missions in China.


Consuls General

Historical Consuls General were: * Jim Mullinax (2017–2020)Consul General
* Raymond Greene (2014–2017) * Peter Haymond (2011–2014) * David E. Brown (2009–2010) * James Boughner (2006–2009) * Jeff Moon (2004–2006) * David Bleyle (2001–2003) * Brian Woo (1999–2000) * Cornelis Keur (1995–1999) * Donald A. Camp (1992–95) * Marshall Adair (1990–1992) * Bill Thomas (1985–1988)


See also

*
List of diplomatic missions of the United States The United States has the second largest number of active diplomatic posts of any country in the world after the People's Republic of China, including 272 bilateral posts (embassies and consulates) in 174 countries, as well as 11 permanent miss ...
* Embassy of the United States, Beijing * Consulate General of the United States, Guangzhou *
Consulate General of the United States, Shanghai The Consulate General of the United States in Shanghai is one of the five List of diplomatic missions of the United States, American diplomatic and consular posts in the People's Republic of China. First established in 1844 following the si ...
* Consulate General of the United States, Shenyang * Consulate General of the United States, Wuhan * Consulate General of the United States, Hong Kong and Macau * Wang Lijun incident * QSI International School of Chengdu * Americans in China


References

{{Authority control 1985 establishments in China 2020 disestablishments in China Government agencies established in 1985 Government agencies disestablished in 2020
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
Buildings and structures in Chengdu History of Chengdu Organizations based in Chengdu China–United States relations Defunct diplomatic missions of the United States