The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the USA asked it to close down its consulate in Houston, Texas.

US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said the consulate was ordered to close "to protect American intellectual property and the private information of Americans", but did not immediately provide additional details about what caused the closing.

Later on Wednesday, President Donald Trump told reporters "it's always possible" that additional Chinese missions could be closed.

Wang said the US government had been harassing Chinese diplomats and consular staff for some time and intimidating Chinese students.

Oil was also little-changed, with U.S. crude flat at US$41.90 a barrel and global benchmark Brent crude up one cent to US$44.30 per barrel.

The two suspects worked with China's Ministry of State Security in some cases, the indictment alleged. The tweet said smoke was observed in an outdoor courtyard area, and that officers were not allowed to enter the building. First responders "were told that people inside the consulate, that they were burning paperwork because they were in the process of being evacuated from the building", Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said.

A source with direct knowledge of the matter said China was considering closing the US consulate in Wuhan, where the State Department withdrew staff and their families early this year due to the coronavirus outbreak that first emerged in the city.

"Trump can only press China to re-win the election, to get out from the troubles". The U.S. recorded more than 1,100 new coronavirus deaths for a second straight day on Wednesday. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment on the Chinese accusations.

Critics of Trump's China approach have described the move as arbitrary and counterproductive.

Wenbin said the US Embassy in China "often publishes articles [on its website] openly attacking China". "Shutting down consulates, however, helps closed autocracies more than open democracies".

In Beijing, Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, said Washington gave the Chinese side a deadline of three days to close the mission in the Texas city. "It's part of the administration's race to the bottom against China", he said.

As of this writing, however, no US official had raised specific cases of espionage allegedly based out of the Houston consulate or offered any further explanation of the decision. China now has consulates in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City, but only Houston's has been shut down as of Wednesday.

Lawmakers, former officials and experts said a strong pullback is needed to counter China's cyber and industrial espionage, its human rights abuses in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, and the aggressive expansion in the South China Sea, but some suggested that the Houston Consulate was a carefully calibrated, driven and very objective politician, one chosen to create the appearance of toughness and avoid the risk of a major crash.

"This is a insane move", tweeted Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Communist Party-run Global Times.

"The Chinese losing access to Houston would be much bigger", he said.

In equities markets, a boost from Microsoft MSFT.O shares and optimism over a new round of stimulus for the virus-stricken US economy offset worries over worsening ties between the world's two largest economies.

The Chinese foreign ministry has slammed the order.

Ortagus struck at the Communist Party in Wednesday's statement.

The US move is a "grave violation" of related provisions of the China-US Consular Treaty, and a "deliberate attempt to undermine China-US relations", the spokesman added.