People tour the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the United States, July 19, 2020. Long delays in getting COVID-19 test results across the United States is undercutting their usefulness, said Director of the U.S. National Institutes for Health Francis Collins on Sunday. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

The Chinese Embassy in the US was harassed by a bomb threat call on Monday, according to domestic news site thepaper.cn, citing a source who acknowledged the matter following the Chinese Foreign Ministry condemning the US for requesting that the Chinese Consulate General in Houston be closed down. 

The visa office of the Chinese Embassy in the US has constantly received phone calls from an unlisted number, with the man repeatedly hanging up after staff answered, according to the media report. The last time a staff member picked up the phone, the man asked, "Chinese Embassy Visa Office? " After confirmation was given, he asked further "do you know what's in your lobby?" following sounds mimicking an explosion. 

Then he hung up again. 

The US abruptly asked China to close down its Consulate General in Houston. This is unilateral political provocation by the US side against China, a grave violation of international law and basic norms governing international relations, a grave violation of relevant provisions of the China-US consular treaty, and a deliberate attempt to undermine China-US relations, Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said on Wednesday.

In October 2019 and June 2020, the US twice imposed restrictions on Chinese diplomatic staff in the US, opening Chinese diplomatic packages privately on many occasions, and seized Chinese official supplies, the spokesperson said.  

As a result of the recent indiscriminate stigmatization and incitement of hatred by the US, bomb and death threats have been made against Chinese diplomatic missions and personnel in the US, the spokesperson said.

The Chinese Embassy in the US received death threat mail on March 21, and a number of handwritten and printed letters containing malicious abuse recently, including attacks on the Communist Party of China (CPC), on the coronavirus and so on, the source said. In response, the embassy has enhanced security measures. 

Some observers believe that these instances are directly related to recent unscrupulous attacks by some US politicians to discredit China, mislead and manipulate public opinion, and incite anti-China sentiment.