| Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Houston | |
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| Location | Houston, Texas, US |
| Address | 3417 Montrose Boulevard |
| Coordinates | 29°44′30″N95°23′27″W / 29.74167°N 95.39083°W /29.74167; -95.39083 |
| Opened | November 20, 1979 (1979-11-20) |
| Closed | July 24, 2020 (2020-07-24) |
| Consul General | Hua Jinzhou (last) |
| Website | Official website |
| Consulate General of China, Houston | |||||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | 中华人民共和国驻休斯敦总领事馆 | ||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 中華人民共和國駐休斯敦總領事館 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Houston | ||||||||
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TheConsulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Houston was a diplomatic mission of China, headquartered at 3417 Montrose Boulevard in theMontrose neighborhood ofHouston,Texas. It served eight states in theSouthern United States: Texas,Oklahoma,Louisiana,Arkansas,Mississippi,Alabama,Georgia, andFlorida, in addition toPuerto Rico. An earlier diplomatic mission had been established by theRepublic of China government and was in existence by 1935.[1]
Opened in 1979 by thePeople's Republic of China, it was the first Chinese consulate general to be established in the United States. On July 24, 2020, the consulate was ordered to close by theUnited States government.[2]
In addition to the main consulate building, it also maintained an education office inMidtown.[3]
Prior to the establishment of thePeople's Republic of China, a Chinese consulate was already present in Houston.[1] TheRepublic of China, as of 1937, was represented by a vice-consul.[4] The descendant of the ROC consulate still exists today, without diplomatic recognition, as theTaipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston.[citation needed]
The current PRC consulate was established in 1979 as the first PRC consulate in the United States, afterDeng Xiaoping's visit to the United States and the normalization ofChina–United States relations.[5] In an agreement between U.S. PresidentJimmy Carter and Chinese Vice PremierBo Yibo, China agreed to accept two U.S. consulates inGuangzhou andShanghai, while mainland China would open two consulates in Houston andSan Francisco.[6] The Houston consulate-general was officially opened on November 20, 1979.[7]
In April 1981, the consulate became the center of a diplomatic incident between mainland China and the United States as Chinese ballet dancerLi Cunxin was held in the consulate for 21 hours with his newly wed American wife. Li had intended to defect to the U.S., and in the ensuing incidentFBI agents surrounded the consulate with a U.S. delegation led by then Vice PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush successfully negotiating for Li's release.[8][9]
On July 21, 2020, the United States government ordered the consulate in Houston to be closed within 72 hours.[2] TheU.S. State Department spokespersonMorgan Ortagus released a statement saying that "The United States will not tolerate the PRC's violations of our sovereignty and intimidation of our people",[10] and that the State Department "have directed the closure of PRC Consulate General Houston, in order toprotect American intellectual property [from Chinese theft] and American's private information".[11] The Houston consulate was accused of being part of a general Chinese espionage effort in the United States,[12] specifically stealing data on medical research and the oil and gas sector.[13][14] In May 2020, an independent research report from the Center for Security and Emerging Technology found that, "Before its closure in the summer of 2020, the Chinese Consulate in Houston, Texas was a major hub in China’s global S&T information gathering operation. From January 2015 to July 2020, Houston Consulate staff identified more S&T projects than any other PRC diplomatic post in the world."[15] The consulate was also accused of harassing the families of Chinese dissidents while trying to coerce them to return to mainland China.[16]
In immediate reaction to the news of the closure, stock indicesin Hong Kong,in Shanghai, andin Shenzhen dropped.[17] Within the hours after the announcement, videos emerged on Houston's locally broadcastKPRC-TV showing documents being burned in barrels in the courtyard of the consulate.[11] Local police and fire departments received reports of the fires at around 8 pm local time,[18] and as first responders arrived at the consulate, they were denied entry.[11] Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesmanWang Wenbin issued a statement in response requesting the U.S. to reverse the closure, threatening reciprocal actions (e.g. closing an American consulate in China) otherwise.
On July 24, United States officials entered the former consulate and took over the building.[19][20] In retaliation, the Chinese government ordered the United States on Friday to close its consulate inChengdu, in response to the U.S. shutting down the Houston consulate.[21]
Source:[22]
Education Office 811 Holman St. Houston, TX 77002- Compare the street address to the map of Midtown in:"MIDTOWN MANAGEMENT DISTRICT SERVICE AND IMPROVEMENT PLAN AND ASSESSMENT PLAN FOR FISCAL YEARS 2015-2024"(PDF).Midtown Houston. p. 25. RetrievedJuly 25, 2020. - See "Exhibit A District Boundary Map" on PDF p. 25/25
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