© REUTERS/Gary McWilliamsA group of people use power tools to try to pry open a rear door of the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas, U.S., July 24, 2020.
A group of men accompanied by a U.S. State Department official were seen forcing open a door at the Chinese consulate in Houston on Friday, shortly after a U.S. government closure order for the mission took effect at 4 p.m. Central Time (2100 GMT).
The group included a man who appeared to be the State Department's top official for foreign missions, Cliff Seagroves. The group did not respond when asked who they were by reporters and a State Department spokesperson declined to answer questions about Seagroves or the group's activity at the consulate.
After the men pried open a rear door and went inside, two uniformed members of the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security arrived to guard the door. They did not respond to questions from reporters.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
Consulate staff had exited the Houston building shortly after 4 p.m. and left in vehicles before the door was forced open, according to a Reuters witness.
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The takeover attempt was captured in videos circulated on social media, showing a group of men outside the consulate, who circle the building after apparently failing to access one of its doors.
Police were also seen setting up a perimeter around the facility, and later guarding the building as officials attempted to get inside.
The method of entry mirrors the manner in which US officials forced their way into the locked residence of Moscow's consul-general in Seattle, Washington following a similar purge in 2018 - in that case, a mass ejection of some 60 Russian diplomatic personnel.
The Chinese consulate was shuttered under an order from US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, giving Beijing just 72 hours to evacuate its personnel while insisting the move was necessary to "protect American intellectual property" from alleged Chinese espionage.
Beijing has already responded in kind, ordering on Friday morning the closure of an American consulate in Chengdu - also reportedly giving a 72-hour time frame - which it deemed a "legitimate and necessary response" to Washington's "unreasonable actions."
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