Men seen forcing open backdoor of China's Houston consulate after closure
Category: News & Politics
Via: buzz-of-the-orient • 4 years ago • 15 commentsBy: No Author Indicated
Men seen forcing open backdoor of China's Houston consulate after closure
HOUSTON (Reuters) - A group of men accompanied by a U.S. State Department official were seen forcing open a door at the Chinese consulate in Houston on Friday, shortly after a U.S. government closure order for the mission took effect at 4 p.m. Central Time (2100 GMT).
© Reuters/ADREES LATIF A plain clothes U.S. security official enters the back door of China’s Consulate after Chinese employees left the building, in Houston
The group included a man who appeared to be the State Department's top official for foreign missions, Cliff Seagroves. The group did not respond when asked who they were by reporters and a State Department spokesperson declined to answer questions about Seagroves or the group's activity at the consulate.
© Reuters/ADREES LATIF Plain clothes U.S. security officials stand outside the back door of China’s Consulate after Chinese employees left the building, in Houston
After the men pried open a rear door and went inside, two uniformed members of the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security arrived to guard the door. They did not respond to questions from reporters.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
Consulate staff had exited the Houston building shortly after 4 p.m. and left in vehicles before the door was forced open, according to a Reuters witness.
(Reporting by Gary Mcwilliams and Adrees Latif; writing by David Brunnstrom; editing by Grant McCool and Daniel Wallis)
It would not surprise me if they plant compromising documents in the consulate and produce them to back up the claim where they have no proof whatsover that the consulate had been complicit in assisting espionage.
Trump's desperate attempts to deflect the attention of the American public from his incompetence and mismanagement on all levels in order to convince them to unite behind him in his attacks on China will only get him re-elected if the American public does not have the intelligence to see and comprehend what he is doing and why.
Given the general dishonest tone of most of what Trump (and his asskissers) do, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if that's what happened.
In fact, now that I think about it-- it would be surprising if they didn't try something like that!
Taking into consideration Trump's lack of integrity and untrustworthyness, I'd bet on it.
Time to kick those commies to the curb.
"The US officials also said Friday that China's Houston consulate was implicated in a fraud investigation at a Texas research institution. They charged that consulate officials "were directly involved in communications with researchers and guided them on what information to collect."
"The activities in Houston "are a microcosm, we believe, of a broader network of individuals in more than 25 cities. That network is supported through the consulates here," the Justice Department official said. "Consulates have been giving individuals in that network guidance on how to evade [and] obstruct our investigation. And you can infer from that the ability to task that (a) network of associates nationwide."
Anybody, even you, can say anything that fits Trump's agenda (which is obvious to most people already) but I'll wait until they present the PROOF of their accusations.
good enough. (for now)
Possibly true, they burned the real ones.
If you have proof that they burned the "real ones", don't keep it a secret. Seems to me to be pretty common that when any embassy or consulate is vacated, a lot of stuff gets burned or shredded. That even happens in corporate offices.
Locked for the (my) night - will be unlocked in the morning (if I can remember to do it).
Now unlocked and open for civil comments.
Trump has already established that America's signature on International treaties, conventions and agreements means nothing at all. Thanks to Trump there is no way that other countries in the world can consider its signature to be binding or ever trust America as long as Trump is POTUS.
Locked for the (my) night - will be unlocked in the morning (if I can remember to do it).
Now unlocked for civil comments.
Looks like Americans don't really care that Trump contravened both the international Vienna Convention and the Sino-US Consulate agreement, so I see no reason to keep this seed open for comments. During the Trump era, America's signature on any international treaty, agreement or convention isn't worth the amount of ink it used.