Chinese spies are roaming Texas looking for dissidents, FBI and Governor's office warns

In alarming unison, both Texas's politician and the FBI issued warnings to Texans astir Chinese spies operating successful the Lone Star State to intimidate, physically wounded and kidnap Chinese citizens who person fled to the US. 

A Chinese 'police work station' has been located successful Houston, according to Gov. Greg Abbott. 

The Communist spy house, tally by the Chinese government, is utilized to transportation retired threats, harassment, and adjacent forcibly instrumentality ineligible US residents who are critics of the People's Republic of China. 

The Chinese constabulary work halfway successful Houston is 1 of six believed to beryllium operating successful the US.

'Texas volition not tolerate the harassment oregon coercion of the much than 250,000 individuals of Chinese descent who legally telephone Texas location by the Chinese Communist Party oregon its heinous proxies,' Abbott said successful a statement Monday.

'I directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to place and bring transgression charges against individuals who harass Texans connected behalf of this hostile overseas adversary.'

The Republican politician issued an enforcement bid Monday directing authorities constabulary to instantly instrumentality action. 

Meanwhile, the FBI urged victims successful the fourth-largest metropolis successful the US to travel forward.

'The authorities of the People Republic of China (PRC) whitethorn beryllium cyberstalking, physically intimidating, and harassing Chinese citizens, naturalized U.S. citizens, and families of dissidents who talk our against the Chinese Communist Party successful Texas,' the bureau's Houston tract bureau explained successful an online post. 

Tuesday, Abbott accused China of attempts to spy connected authorities and section governments offices successful Texas.

'Hardening our authorities authorities is captious to support Texans from hostile overseas actors who whitethorn effort to undermine the information and information of Texas and the nation,' Abbott said Tuesday.

This isn't the archetypal clip Houston has been the epicenter of tensions betwixt the US and Beijing. 

In July 2020, the US State Department abruptly ordered the Chinese consulate successful Texas beryllium unopen down.

Florida US Senator Marco Rubio (R) the acting president of the Senate Intelligence Committee, claimed successful a tweet Wednesday greeting that 'China's Houston consulate is simply a monolithic spy center, forcing it to adjacent is agelong overdue.' 

'The United States volition not tolerate violations of our sovereignty and intimidation of our people, conscionable arsenic we person not tolerated (its) unfair commercialized practices, theft of American jobs, and different egregious behavior,' said the statement, which was attributed to State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus. 

Within hours of being ordered to close, Chinese diplomats were caught burning documents wrong the Houston consulate.

Fire fighters who responded to the blaze were not allowed entry.

Shortly aft Chinese authoritative vacate the consulate, US authorities raided the building. 

The PRC has not officially re-opened successful Houston, but inactive has 4 different consulates successful the US and an embassy successful Washington, D.C.