The United States (US) consulate in Chengdu lowered the American flag  on Monday, days after China ordered it to close in retaliation for the shuttering of its consulate in Houston.

After diplomatic tensions soared between the two powers with both alleging the other had endangered national security, footage on state broadcaster CCTV from outside the consulate showed the flag being slowly lowered early Monday morning.

Washington and Beijing are seeing a deterioration in their relationship in recent weeks in a Cold War-style standoff, with the Chengdu mission Friday ordered to shut in retaliation for the forced closure of China’s consulate in Houston, Texas.

There is no clarity on deadline for the US to exit Chengdu, but the Chinese consulate in Houston was given 72 hours to close after the original order was made.

The police and cordons have blocked the road leading to the Chengdu consulate, which was closed on Monday.

The staff members had left the compound at around 6 am today, according to the state media report.

Over the weekend, removals trucks entered the site and cleaners were seen carting large black rubbish bags from the consulate.

On Saturday AFP reporters saw workers removing the US insignia from the front of the building.

A constant stream of onlookers in the city of 16.5 million people flowed past over the weekend, many taking photos.

Beijing says closing the Chengdu consulate was a “legitimate and necessary response to the unreasonable measures by the United States”, and has alleged that staff at the diplomatic mission endangered China’s security and interests.

Chinese Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters that some US staff in the Chengdu consulate “were engaged in activities outside of their capacity, interfered in China’s internal affairs, and endangered China’s security and interests”.

Meanwhile, American officials, said there had been unacceptable efforts by the Chinese consulate in Houston to steal US corporate secrets and proprietary medical and scientific research.

The last Chinese diplomats left the Houston consulate last Friday, with officials there seen loading large sacks of documents and other items onto trucks, and throwing some in bins.

Beijing said Saturday that US agents “forcibly” entered the Houston consulate, which it said was “China’s national property”.

Its statement warned that “China will make a proper and necessary response in this regard”.

Nationalistic tabloid the Global Times warned in an editorial Monday that if Washington was “determined to push China-US ties in the worst direction… the 21st century will be darker and even more explosive than the Cold War era”.

It said the rising tensions could lead to “unprecedented catastrophe”.

While the US has an embassy in Beijing as well as five consulates in mainland China and one in Hong Kong, the Chengdu consulate was established in 1985 and has around 200 staff with approximately 150 locally hired Chinese employees, according to its website. It has been the site of diplomatic drama in past years.

Meanwhile, recently, Washington and Beijing have been at loggerheads over a range of issues, including Coronavirus pandemic, trade and China’s policies on Hong Kong, Xinjiang and the South China Sea.