Closing US consulate leaves a hole in Chengdu’s social landscape and a risk to investment in southwest China

Mission helped generate a cosmopolitan atmosphere and was a window on America for local people

Foreign investment may be jeopardised if overseas companies perceive there is greater uncertainty and instability in the region, analyst says

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People take photos and video as Chinese authorities prepare to enter the US consulate in Chengdu. Photo: AP

Published: 6:00am, 2 Aug 2020Updated: 6:13pm, 3 Aug 2020

Six years after the People’s Republic of China and the United States commenced normal diplomatic relations, the US opened a consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu – a further step towards strengthening relations during their honeymoon period in the 1980s.

Back then, US vice-president George Bush flew to Chengdu to open the fourth US consulate in China.

Thirty-five years later, the Chengdu consulate, which once represented goodwill and friendship between the two countries, was ordered to close by Beijing in retaliation for the US ordering the Chinese consulate in Houston to close.

For many local people the consulate is a landmark, a part of the city and a window on America and the outside world. Its sudden closure means inconvenience for them in many ways. Applying for visas, studying or medical treatment in the US will be affected and there will be fewer communications with American counterparts. More importantly, it means the loss of business opportunities and an unknown future.

“The closure of the consulates [in China and the US] means the end of the Chinese and American friendship and that makes many people feel sad,” said Pang Zhongying, an international affairs expert based in Beijing.

Jeff Moon, who was the US consul general in Chengdu from 2003 to 2006 and now heads a China-focused consultancy, China Moon Strategies, said the political effect was that this development signalled a deteriorating bilateral relationship and might accelerate the decoupling of China and the US.