US transfer to close China’s Houston consulate attracts questions on political motives

Deputy Secretary of State Steve Biegun pointed Wednesday to “a rising variety of disputes” between the US and China over Beijing’s “more and more hardline and aggressive actions” which have led the administration to take motion, together with closing the consulate in Houston.

Lawmakers, former officers and consultants mentioned robust pushback is required to counter China’s cyber and industrial espionage, its human rights abuses in Hong Kong and Xinjiang and aggressive enlargement within the South China Sea — however some recommended the Houston consulate was a politically pushed and really fastidiously calibrated goal, one chosen to create the looks of toughness whereas avoiding the chance of a serious conflict.

White Home officers have privately outlined a method of getting robust on Beijing to bolster President Donald Trump’s sagging ballot numbers earlier than the election, partly to deflect blame for the disastrous and economically damaging White Home response to the coronavirus pandemic, but in addition to return to financial nationalism themes that carried Trump to victory in 2016.

Jeff Moon, a former assistant US commerce consultant for China, famous the State Division mentioned the Houston order was a response to Chinese language mental property theft and mentioned that raised questions on why just one consulate was focused.

“If that have been the actual cause, the US would shut the San Francisco consulate, which covers Silicon Valley,” mentioned Moon, who was amongst those that recommended politics is likely to be at work. “This motion is purple meat for Trump supporters who’re desirous to retaliate towards China and divert consideration from Trump’s disastrous Covid-19 coverage.”

US State Division spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus mentioned the consulate was directed to shut “so as to shield American mental property and People’ non-public info,” however didn’t instantly present extra particulars of what prompted the closure. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who’s scheduled to provide a speech on China Thursday and simply accomplished a visit in Europe to induce a harder stance towards Beijing, declined to supply particulars concerning the consulate resolution. The State Division did not reply to requests for additional rationalization.

Sen. Angus King, an unbiased of Maine who caucuses with Democrats, advised CNN’s John Berman on “New Day” Wednesday that he was not conscious of any “latest intelligence of specific Chinese language actions, both with regard to our elections, or the entire confrontation between our two international locations — theft of mental property” that will have pushed the choice.

“There actually is an effective cause to confront China. My concern is, escalating this pressure, is it actually about confronting China, or does it have one thing to do with an election in 4 months?” King, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, mentioned.

A former official who left the Trump administration final yr mentioned that Trump typically pushed again on advisers who urged him to impose harder punitive measures on China out of concern that it might jeopardize commerce negotiations.

Even so, as Covid-19 started devastating public and financial well being within the US, the President’s Republican allies and influential White Home employees, together with Jared Kushner, started arguing that one method to energize the President’s political base is by blasting China over its failure to stem the unfold of the illness early on, administration officers and three folks acquainted with Kushner’s considering have advised CNN.

Moon, who now runs China Moon Methods, a consultancy on US-China commerce and financial relations, mentioned focusing on the Houston consulate was a method for the President to string the needle between showing robust but not taking over a lot danger.

The US and Chinese language governments informally pair their consulates, with China’s Houston facility informally linked to the US consulate in Wuhan. Moon famous that the Wuhan consulate reportedly stays closed on account of coronavirus, “so China might ‘shut’ and escalate the diplomatic struggle as little as potential.”

A ‘huge community of spies’

On Wednesday, Biegun advised the Senate International Relations Committee that Trump moved to shut the consulate due to rising aggression by China.

Biegun pointed to “industrial espionage and mental property theft from American corporations; unequal therapy of our diplomats, companies, NGOs, and journalists by Chinese language authorities; and abuse of the US’ educational freedom and welcoming posture towards worldwide college students to steal delicate expertise and analysis from our universities so as to advance the PRC’s army capabilities.”

“It’s these elements which led the President to direct a variety of actions in response, together with yesterday’s notification to the PRC that we have withdrawn our consent for the PRC to function its consulate in Houston, Texas,” he mentioned.

On Wednesday, Trump mentioned “it is at all times potential” that he’ll order extra Chinese language consulates closed, including that US officers thought there was a fireplace on the Houston consulate however apparently “they have been burning paperwork.”

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the performing chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote on Twitter Wednesday that closing the Houston consulate “wanted to occur,” and claimed it’s a “central node of the Communist Celebration’s huge community of spies.”

Requested about that allegation, a present US intelligence official agreed, telling CNN that “after all it was” used for spying. “We have been watching them for some time,” they mentioned. That official declined to touch upon why the choice was taken now to shut the Houston consulate.

The Justice Division’s prime nationwide safety official mentioned the closure was unrelated to federal expenses unsealed Tuesday towards two Chinese language hackers for a 10-year marketing campaign to steal mental property from a whole bunch of companies throughout the globe, together with just lately from 4 American corporations researching the coronavirus.

As a substitute, Assistant Lawyer Normal John Demers mentioned the administration moved towards the Houston consulate to disrupt China’s theft of protection and commerce secrets and techniques after a “sluggish buildup” of exercise. “It wasn’t a lot one specific factor however a sluggish buildup of what we have been seeing over time and a choice made to take a robust step to not simply confront it in a basic sense however to really disrupt it by closing that consulate,” Demers mentioned.

Former officers have been perplexed. Danny Russell, the previous Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs who left the division in 2017, mentioned that when he was at State and the Nationwide Safety Council, “the Chinese language consulate in Houston didn’t have a specific status as an acute vector of espionage.”

“It is vitally onerous for me to determine what China might do uniquely from its consulate in Houston that it couldn’t equally nicely do from its consulates in Boston, LA, or NY, from the embassy in DC or by way of non-official cowl,” Russell mentioned. “It’s inconceivable that shutting down a consulate will cease espionage.”

“The drama of this motion makes it look like a teaser for Pompeo’s” speech Thursday, Russell added. “This has a really distinct wag-the-dog really feel to it.”

CNN’s James Griffiths in Hong Kong, and Jamie Crawford, David Shortell, Zachary Cohen and Jennifer Hansler in Washington contributed to this report

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