Hmm, maybe burning some ballots? Gotta hide the evidence?
Why the US ordered China's Houston consulate closed
July 22, 2020 11:54 AM
The State Department ordered closed China's Houston consulate in response to Beijing's use of that consulate for highly aggressive espionage efforts against U.S. intellectual property and American citizens of Chinese ancestry.
The key concern was China's Ministry of State Security's use of the Houston consulate as a key operations station for south-central and West Coast espionage operations. As I understand it, the Houston station is connected to the indictment on Tuesday of two MSS officers for cyberespionage against American intellectual property targets and coronavirus vaccine research. The Houston station was very likely used as a targeting center to gather intelligence for cyberattack teams on the Chinese mainland.
So what has the MSS been doing, specifically, out of Houston?
Well, MSS officers have been using the consulate as a base to receive and pursue taskings in relation to Beijing's top espionage priorities. These have included a focus on penetrating the defense and tech sectors in Houston and in the so-called Silicon Hills area of Austin. But China's Houston station has also been used to track and harass U.S. citizens who China believes owe loyalty to the Communist Party regime. Some of this MSS activity has involved very aggressive face-to-face confrontations and threats of a degree that makes even the Russian intelligence services' activity on U.S. soil look mild. To be clear, it crosses general red lines on the conduct of intelligence officers operating under diplomatic cover.
The closure is also about ensuring that the U.S. government can more effectively constrain China's espionage operations on U.S. soil. While U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers stationed in China are persistently monitored by a significant Chinese technical and large, human surveillance effort, the same cannot be said of Chinese officers on U.S. soil. That's because the FBI, which has responsibility for monitoring foreign intelligence officers, lacks the counterintelligence profile to monitor all spies at all times. The best the FBI can do is prioritize its efforts and deploy its agents and surveillance teams in that vein. Closing the consulate means that the FBI will have more resources to free up against other top MSS stations. Most notably, those based out of the Washington, D.C., embassy and China's consulate in San Francisco.
The broader context also matters greatly.
At present, the Trump administration is engaged in a steady effort to escalate the pressure on Beijing. This includes escalating naval exercises in the South China Sea, Justice Department warnings of Chinese influence campaigns, and President Trump's return to blaming the coronavirus pandemic on China. But with China promising to retaliate against its consulate closure, tensions are only heading upward.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/why-the-us-ordered-chinas-houston-consulate-closed
Home School.