“why do they have a consulate in Houston?”
Massive spying/technology theft? Yes.
But also (apparently), massive influence operations, at the Federal, State and Local levels.
SecState Pompeo addressed this to the National Governors Association earlier this year: https://www.state.gov/u-s-states-and-the-china-competition/
No doubt the Chinese have a major push underway to effect November’s election - it is an existential issue for the communists.
This sudden closure should disrupt their daily routine a good bit.
Yep, lots of stuff going on.
I was being invited to the U.S.-China Governors’ Collaboration Summit.
It was an event co-hosted by the National Governors Association and something called the Chinese People’s Association For Friendship and Foreign Countries. Sounds pretty harmless.
What the invitation did not say is that the group – the group I just mentioned – is the public face of the Chinese Communist Party’s official foreign influence agency, the United Front Work Department.
Now, I was lucky. I was familiar with that organization from my time as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
But it got me thinking.
How many of you made the link between that group and Chinese Communist Party officials?
What if you made a new friend while you were at that event?
What if your new friend asked you for introductions to other politically connected and powerful people?
What if your new friend offered to invest big money in your state, perhaps in your pension, in industries sensitive to our national security?