Governor Greg Abbott of Texas has taken a bold step by issuing an executive order to protect the state from what he claims are “espionage threats” coming from the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Republic of China. According to an announcement on the official Texas governor’s website, the directive focuses on strengthening security procedures across state agencies and public universities to stop “hostile foreign nations” from gaining access to key state assets.
According to Governor Abbott, the goal of this action is to protect Texans, a priority that has become more urgent in light of FBI reports about the Chinese government’s strategies that target state and local officials as part of a larger plot to jeopardize the national security of the United States. According to Abbott, this program is essential to protecting Texas’ vital infrastructure, intellectual property, and private data in a way that is designed to thwart any disruptive activities by foreign organizations deemed unfriendly.
The governor’s mandate requires Texas state agencies and public universities to implement a number of protective measures, including requiring companies bidding for state contracts to declare that they are not owned by a foreign adversary government, conducting extensive background checks on employees and contractors associated with the state’s vital infrastructure, and prohibiting state employees from accepting gifts or traveling to countries designated as foreign adversaries for work-related purposes.
The executive order also targets academics, prohibiting faculty and staff in higher institutions from participating in recruitment campaigns supported by unfriendly states. Additionally, the action follows a day earlier, when Governor Abbott ordered Texans to be protected from “coordinated harassment and coercion” by the Chinese Communist Party. This was highlighted by the FBI’s Houston office’s recent warning that if Texas residents of Chinese descent criticize the CCP, they could become targets of the PRC, according to the Texas Governor’s press release.
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