Senators Marco Rubio (FL) and Ted Cruz (TX) sounded off on the closure of Houston’s Chinese Consulate on Wednesday.
Senators Marco Rubio (FL) and Ted Cruz (TX) sounded off on the closure of Houston’s Chinese Consulate on Wednesday.
Photo: Getty Images
Senators Marco Rubio (FL) and Ted Cruz (TX) sounded off on the closure of Houston’s Chinese Consulate on Wednesday.
Senators Marco Rubio (FL) and Ted Cruz (TX) sounded off on the closure of Houston’s Chinese Consulate on Wednesday.
Photo: Getty Images
Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, John Cornyn share strong views about closing of Houston Chinese consulate
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas each shared strong views on social media Wednesday about the United States government abruptly ordering China to “cease all operations and events” at its consulate in Montrose yesterday.
In a tweet alluding to Sunday’s social media scuffle between Cruz and Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban over players kneeling during the anthem, one Twitter user posted, “Everyone needs to calm down. The Chinese are just moving to their new consulate in Dallas.”
“Fair point,” Cruz tweeted.
Fair point. https://t.co/0RsMnXosKD
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 22, 2020
“China’s consulate in Houston is not a diplomatic facility. It is the central node of the Communist Party’s vast network of spies & influence operations in the United States,” Rubio said in the first of two tweets Wednesday. “Now that building must close & the spies have 72 hours to leave or face arrest. This needed to happen.”
#China’s consulate in #Houston is not a diplomatic facility. It is the central node of the Communist Party’s vast network of spies & influence operations in the United States. Now that building must close & the spies have 72 hours to leave or face arrest.
This needed to happen.
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 22, 2020
“Houston consulate is a massive spy center, forcing it to close is long overdue,” Rubio said in the second tweet.
#China’s Houston consulate is a massive spy center, forcing it to close is long overdue.
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 22, 2020
Cornyn retweeted Rubio’s initial tweet.
Tensions between Beijing and Washington have been growing for months over a trade war, the coronavirus pandemic, and US criticism of China’s human rights abuses in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.
Last week, China targeted four U.S. officials for sanctions, including Rubio and Cruz, in response to a similar decision made by the Trump administration in July against four officials in China.
The State Department said in a statement that the closure was in response to repeated Chinese violations of American sovereignty, including “massive illegal spying and influence operations,” according to the New York Times.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has called the order to close the Montrose-area Chinese consulate an “unprecedented escalation” in recent actions taken by Washington, the New York Times reported.
On Tuesday night, Houston police tweeted that they responded to reports of smoke in the courtyard outside the consulate building at 3417 Montrose Blvd., but were not allowed inside.
About 8:25 pm on Tuesday, our officers responded to a meet the firefighter call to the China Consulate General in Houston building at 3417 Montrose Blvd.
Smoke was observed in an outside courtyard area. Officers were not granted access to enter the building. 1/2
— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) July 22, 2020
Local media shared video of what appeared to be consulate employees burning documents.
A spokesperson for the State Department said in a statement that China “has engaged for years in massive illegal spying and influence operations,” which have “increased markedly in scale and scope over the past few years,” according to the New York Times.
Via its official social media platform, the Chinese Foreign Ministry reportedly said the order to close the consulate was a “political provocation unilaterally launched by the US side, which seriously violates international law, basic norms governing international relations and the bilateral consular agreement between China and the US.”
The Houston Forum
Source : chron.com
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https://thehoustonforum.org/houston-news-ted-cruz-marco-rubio-john-cornyn-share-strong-views-about-closing-of-houston-chinese-consulate/
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