[remflight]

Your response is absurd. You think China would only focus on a few cities? They likely have multiple efforts going in every major city all at the same time. They have more than enough money and motivation to do that. To dismiss Houston just because it’s not Silicon Valley is absurd. Any strategic advantage is still an advantage. They have the luxury of not having to worry about profits and losses like a corporation.

[DiogenesKynikos]

The document that was cited above claims that Houston was a major global hub of Chinese science and technology espionage. That's what's absurd.

Practically every consulate and embassy around the world is crawling with spies. "Diplomatic cover" is a standard way of sending spies to a foreign country. That's not why the US would close down a foreign embassy.

The closure of the Chinese embassy, with a big announcement and almost no forewarning, was meant as a political statement. It came in the middle of an escalating trade war, initiated by the Trump administration.

The post facto rationalizations about the Houston embassy being some extraordinary hotbed of espionage were absurd on their face, and I'm surprised by the level of naiveté in this thread towards these sorts of official government explanations for what are obviously political moves.