JAPAN MULLS CONSULATE IN WUHAN

Japan is considering setting up a consulate within two years in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus was initially detected late last year, a diplomatic source said, Kyodo News reported.

Calls have been growing among business circles for the Japanese government to open a consulate in Wuhan, known as a business and transportation hub with a population of some 11 million, after the pandemic started earlier this year.

In January, the government under then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a charter plane to evacuate nationals from Wuhan, making Japan the first country in the world to take such action.

After the United States ordered China to shut down its consulate general in Houston in the southern state of Texas in July over Beijing's alleged spying activities, Beijing forced Washington to close its Wuhan consulate.