The Chinese Consulate in Houston, which the United States has ordered to close, is "a hub of Chinese espionage" and "theft of intellectual property , " US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday. In a speech in California, he accused Beijing of "stealing" of "valuable trade secrets" of Americans, blaming the same time US companies to be too complacent face to the Chinese requirements.
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The head of American diplomacy also called on "the free world" to "triumph" in the face of the "new tyranny" embodied according to him by Communist China. "China today is more and more authoritarian inside the country, and more aggressive in its hostility to freedom everywhere else," he said in California during a speech whose tone reminded more than ever of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. He accused Chinese President Xi Jinping of being a "sincere follower of a bankrupt totalitarian ideology".