WhyNoDonuts

CAUGHT doing what every embassy does before they have to leave in a hurry. I’m sure ours have burn barrels or some other kind of document elimination process.

MuhTriggersGuise

Since some of the material may contain information that may damage Chinese national security, all material must be destroyed. Pretty simple. It's a smoking gun that Chinese consulates may have classified Chinese material, which is a given.

WhyNoDonuts

-but if we closed an embassy anywhere in the world on short notice, we would be doing this too. It’s easier than taking it all with you.

Hands down they are/were up to something, but after document shreds were reassembled in the East Germans stasi headquarters the barrels are best, worldwide. The fact that they have burn barrels and use them is a non-story. We should be getting to why they were evicted, exactly.

Jimmycog

We have been in a cold war with China since Nixon.