
U.S. Orders China to Close Its Houston Consulate in 72 Hours - signa11
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/world/asia/us-china-houston-consulate.html
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melonkidney
I'm not sure how to interpret what's happening between the US and China at the
moment - especially from a business perspective...

If I'm a US company operating (i.e., selling) in China, should I be worried?
What if I don't operate in China but have outsourced
manufacturing/coding/whatever there - should I seriously be looking at
relocation?

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anfilt
The DOJ just recently brought charges against two Chinese hackers selling
information to the Chinese. If I had to speculate this location somehow was
involved. However, that's just a guess.

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pupdogg
What are your guys' thoughts on the fire? Link to news report below. They're
stating that the consulate members tried to burn down some sensitive
documents. Seems really odd that you would use fire over a precision shredder
in 2020. Looking to hear other perspective on this. Definitely some strange
times we're living through currently.

Link: [https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/22/us-orders-china-to-close-
con...](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/22/us-orders-china-to-close-consulate-in-
houston-texas.html)

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detaro
For paper, burning is fast-ish and makes sure nothing can be recovered, still
good tradition. As far as I know embassies etc even sometimes have safes with
included fire charges that burn the contents on button-press.

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blueblisters
In terms of diplomatic escalation is this higher or lower than expelling
diplomats?

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de_watcher
I think higher. You can always send other diplomats but you can't make a new
place for them to crash.

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anfilt
There are multiple consulates in the US though. They server a different
function compared to embassy, but there is overlap.

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tibbydudeza
Election is coming up and somebody is tanking in the polls. Some good old
saber rattling and stoke up the fervour.

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dontcarethrow2
Seems like the pot is calling the kettle black and waiting to blast it for its
retaliation. I wonder which way we will spin it. Fun times, this was probably
going to happen earlier if not for covid. What really kicked this off? Was it
when they stopped accepting the world's garbage? Cant recall if we were poking
them this hard before that..

