In alarming unison, both the governor of Texas and the FBI warned Texans about Chinese spies operating in the Lone Star State to intimidate, physically harm and kidnap Chinese citizens who have fled to the US.
According to a spokesperson for the Chinese police, there is a ‘police gas station’ located in Houston Gov. Greg Abbott.
The communist spy house, run by the Chinese government, is used to make threats, intimidate and even forcibly return legal U.S. residents who are critics of the People’s Republic of China.
The Chinese police station in Houston is one of six believed to be operating in the US.
“Texas will not tolerate the intimidation or coercion of the more than 250,000 individuals of Chinese descent who legally call Texas home by the Chinese Communist Party or its heinous proxies,” Abbott said in a speech. statement Monday.
“I have directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to identify and criminally charge individuals who are harassing Texans on behalf of this hostile foreign adversary.”
The Republican governor issued an executive order Monday directing state police to take immediate action.
Meanwhile, the FBI urged victims in the fourth-largest U.S. city to come forward.
The Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) may cyber-stalk, physically intimidate, and harass Chinese citizens, naturalized U.S. citizens, and families of dissidents who speak out against the Chinese Communist Party in Texas. #HouNews pic.twitter.com/QaU8fqD7Yi
— FBI Houston (@FBIHouston) November 18, 2024
Gov. Greg Abbott speaks about public safety in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Oct. 17
“The government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) may cyber-stalk, physically intimidate, and harass Chinese citizens, naturalized U.S. citizens, and families of dissidents who speak out against the Chinese Communist Party in Texas,” the agency’s Houston field office said. in one online message.
On Tuesday, Abbott accused China of attempting to spy on state and local government offices in Texas.
“Hardening our state government is critical to protecting Texans from hostile foreign actors who could attempt to undermine the security of Texas and the nation,” Abbott said Tuesday.
This is not the first time that Houston has been the epicenter of tensions between the US and Beijing.
In July 2020, the US State Department abruptly ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Texas.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R), the acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee from Florida, claimed in a tweet Wednesday morning that “the Chinese Consulate in Houston is a massive spy center, and it should have been closed a long time ago.”
“The United States will not tolerate violations of our sovereignty and intimidation of our people, just as we have not tolerated unfair trade practices, theft of American jobs, and other egregious conduct,” said the statement, which was attributed to the Secretary of State. Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus.
Within hours of being ordered to close, Chinese diplomats were caught burning documents at the consulate in Houston.
The State Department announced in July 2020 that it had ordered the immediate closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas on Tuesday “to protect U.S. intellectual property” and other private information of U.S. citizens.
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Wednesday that the consulate in Houston “is a massive spy center” and claimed its closure was “long overdue.”
Local aid workers claim they were prevented from entering Houston’s Chinese consulate to extinguish a fire on the premises
Firefighters responding to the fire were not allowed inside.
Shortly after Chinese officials left the consulate, American authorities raided the building.
The People’s Republic of China has not officially reopened in Houston, but still maintains four other consulates in the US and an embassy in Washington, D.C.