Shafaq News/ US decision to shut down China’s consulate in Houston is, "an attempt to blame Beijing for American failures ahead of presidential elections in November", Chinese state media said on Thursday.

The United States gave China, on Wednesday, 72 hours to close its consulate in Houston, amid accusations of spying, marking a dramatic deterioration in relations between the world’s two biggest economies, Reuters reported.

The U.S. State Department declared earlier, that the Chinese mission in Houston was being closed, "to protect American intellectual property and Americans’ private information".

For its part, the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs said that 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 and hatred" fanned by the U.S government, spokeswoman Hua Chunying wrote in a tweet, adding, “The U.S. should revoke its erroneous decision,” she said. “China will surely react with firm countermeasures".

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

The official English-language newspaper China Daily described the move as "a new gambit in the U.S. administration’s bid to paint China as a malevolent actor on the world stage, and thus make it an outlaw to the international community".
The Global Times, an English-language tabloid run by the Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper, also accused U.S. President Donald Trump of playing politics. ​"The November presidential election is driving Washington mad," it said.