DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON
SECTION: RED FLAGS OF TREASON
SUBSECTION: SHIPPING AND PORTS
Revised 8/20/99
GENERAL Information
PANAMA Information
COSCO Information
GENERAL INFORMATION
Washington Times 3/16/99 Frank Gaffney, Jr. "…Clinton policies, practices and personnel that will, if uncorrected, give rise to a far more ominous problem for this country emanating from the People's Republic of China in the 21st century.
(1) Policy. Ever since it came to office (on a platform that correctly castigated the Bush administration for coddling China's communist dictators), the Clinton administration has pursued a policy it calls "engagement"…
(2) Practices: The W-88 episode has put into sharp relief the Clinton administration's appalling, systematic disregard of the most basic of security procedures…
NEWSMAX 3/10/99 Christopher Ruddy "…Here are the shocking facts:
CLINTON URGED TURNOVER OF LONG BEACH PORT TO THE RED ARMY … COSCO -- the Chinese Overseas Shipping Company, a subsidiary of China's People's Liberation Army -- would be allowed to lease the navy shipyards in Long Beach, California for 16 annual payments of $14.5 million a year (total: $232 million). The deal would also have required the Port of Long Beach to spend $235 million to modernize the facilities….
AUTHORIZED IMPORTATION OF 100,000 CHINESE COMBAT RIFLES In 1996, soon after Clinton had signed a law outlawing importing foreign semi-automatic weapons into the US, he signed a waiver allowing the Chinese Overseas Shipping Co. -- COSCO (a subsidiary of the Red Army) -- to allow them to import 100,000 semi-automatic military rifles into the US, as well as millions of rounds of ammunition. Not content to just bring in semi-automatic weapons, COSCO also tried to smuggle in 2,000 illegal, fully automatic Chinese AK-47s. According to press reports, these weapons were destined to be sold to street gangs in Oakland. That seems like a phony cover story. We still need to know why China tried to smuggle into California enough weapons to equip an army....
GIVES CONTROL OF THE PANAMA CANAL TO CHINA… President Clinton has allowed a company controlled by Chinese communists -- Hutchinson-Whampoa Ltd. -- to take control of the Canal cities at both ends of the Canal. Further, under Panamanian Law #5, Hutchinson-Whampoa will determine which ships are allowed to enter the Canal and many of the Canal's operations. This is utterly absurd and frightening…. "
PANAMA INFORMATION
5/25/98 Edward Oliver WorldNetDaily "A Panamanian presidential candidate has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate China's activities around the canal and the possibility of a quid pro quo between the Clinton administration and the Asian Communist power. Concerned about possible executive branch complicity in China's gatekeeper status at the Panama Canal, Panamanian presidential candidate William Bright Marine wrote to the Justice Department May 4: "I have yet to speak to one single American who is not outraged at the fact that the Clinton administration has allowed Communist China to obtain control of U.S. ports, U.S. bases, and functions of the Panama Canal. They today, effectively control access to the Panama Canal ... this agreement could not have happened, without the consent of the Clinton administration ... the executive branch has been copied by my correspondence regarding communist China dating back to late 1996. They cannot claim ignorance." The Justice Department has not yet responded.."
WoldNetdaily William Bright Marine 8/24/98 "Just when you thought Panamanian politics could not get more bizarre the media in Panama is reporting, and the government has confirmed that President Balladares has hired James Carville. Carville is being funded by Mayor Alfredo Aleman. a major player in drug laundering and the money man for President Balladares campaign. President Balladares is trying to change Panama's Constitution so he can run for office again. The required plebiscite is to be held on August 30 this year. The latest polls show that President Balladares is trailing 51% to 31% with 18% undecided.."
Baltimore Sun 9/23/98 Robert Little "The handover of the Panama Canal to the Panamanian government next year could mean higher shipping costs and decreased access to Asian markets for East Coast ports, including Baltimore, a member of the federal commission appointed to study the canal said yesterday. C. Thomas Burke, appointed by President Bush to the Panama Canal Study Commission in 1990, said American inaction in Panama has helped foreign interests in China and Korea build alliances with the Panamanians. As a result, he predicted, when the canal changes hands on Dec. 31, 1999, it will be managed by a government beholden to nations with icy relationships in the West. "If we're not careful, we could be turning over the canal to a country that could possibly be an enemy of the United States," Burke said in a speech before the Baltimore Propeller Club, a group of local maritime industry executives. "I didn't want to bring you an encouraging speech here, I wanted to alarm you -- I want you to be frightened by this."."
The Brazosport Facts 12-10-98 Col. Otis C. Taylor, Ret. -- WWII Veteran ".A very important chapter of American history will soon come to a close. The Panama Canal, a monument to American "know-how," will come under the control of Communist China in the year 2000. Not only will our government's "Most Favored Nation" control the Panama Canal, but also the U.S. Army and Navy military installations within the Canal Zone. The American Legion Magazine (Oct. 1998) gave a good account of how China managed this. In recent bidding for future control of the canal, and associated security installations, the U.S. was the highest bidder. After all the bids were received, the Panamanian president changed the rules of bidding and allowed Communist China to submit a second bid. China's second bid exceeded the U.S. bid. the Panamanian newspaper, El Siglio, reported that "China was allowed to submit a second bid after bucketloads of money arrived from Asia....."
Washington Times 1/11/99 Tom Carter ".It was military need that prompted the United States to begin building the Panama Canal in 1903. But that need no longer exists, according to the men and women responsible for defending the United States at home and abroad. The national security interest kept U.S. troops on the ground in Panama for almost 100 years. But less than a year before the canal is due to be handed over to Panama at noon on Dec. 31, American military officials have concluded that changes in the world --ranging from new technology to the end of the Cold War -- mean it is no longer needed to protect the American way of life. "There is nothing absolutely vital here in Panama in terms of regional or geographical importance," said Lt. Col. Byron Conover, spokesman for U.S. Army South. "It is disappointing that we lose the ability to launch certain kinds of missions out of here, but from a military perspective, there is nothing vital here.".."
Indianapolis Star 2/22/99 Editorial "…A significant point in the issue of a missile defense is not being widely discussed. It is the threat of a hostile Red China and its potential for not necessarily launching long-range missiles from the mainland but for staging intermediate-range missiles from Panama. Yes, Panama, say a number of retired United States military officers. They are concerned that when the U.S. moves out of the Panama Canal Zone at the end of this year, the Communist Chinese will move in. Indeed, China has been quietly positioning itself to control both ends of the canal, according to the National Security Center, a defense issue think tank. The honorary chairman of its retired officer's advisory board is retired Admiral Thomas Moorer, former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. The NSC says that intense research and investigation has confirmed that "Red China has in fact emerged as the 'gatekeeper' of the Panama Canal. " The NSC reports: "In March of 1997 Hutchison Whampoa - a Hong Kong based business whose owner is a close ally of Red China - took over operation of key ports at the Panama Canal. These ports were turned over to Hutchison Whampoa even though American and other companies submitted better bids. "This contract gave Hutchison Whampoa certain 'rights' that could eventually give them and their Red Chinese ally complete control over the Panama Canal when the U.S. completes its phased withdrawal in 1999. " While all this may sound alarmist to those who recognize Hutchison Whampoa as a big player in the Asian business world, the details of its Panama deal are profoundly chilling. Those details are reported in a new NSC published book written by its president, Richard A. Delgaudio, and titled Peril in Panama - China as the Gatekeeper of the Panama Canal Threatens a New Missile Crisis…."
In a May 4 1998 Panamanian Presidential candidate William Bright Marine wrote about the ".fact that the Clinton administration has allowed Communist China to obtain control of U.S. ports, U.S. bases, and functions of the Panama Canal." Law #5 grants Hutchinson-Whampoa Ltd: responsibility for hiring new pilots, control over critical Atlantic/Pacific anchorages, authority to control the order of ships and to deny ships access if they are interfering with Hutchinson's business, right to unilaterally transfer its rights to a third party, right make certain public roads private. In law #5, if there is a conflict between the law and the provisions of the Canal treaty, the treaty prevails. In the deal, Hutchinson gets U.S. Naval Station Rodman; a portion of U.S. Air Station Albrook; Diablo; Balboa (Pacific); Cristobal (Atlantic); the Island of Telfers, a future home of the Chinese planned export zone. Hutchinson is controlled by Chinese communists - Hutchinson's subsidiary HIT, or Panama Ports Company has business ventures with COSCO (Chinese army owned) and is 10% owned by China Resources Enterprise. Lippo is also connected to CRE. At the time Hutchinson obtained the Panama Canal ports, it moved to gain Subic Bay in the Philippines in the wake of U.S. departure.
WorldTribune.com 3/1/99 Robert Morton "…But does anyone really care about the Panama Canal? No one, it would seem, except Communist China's Military Industrial Complex, otherwise know as the People's Liberation Army (PLA). If the United States does not consider the canal a strategic asset, the surviving communist superpower apparently does. In a deal reported by this newspaper on March 19, 1997, the Clintonesque government of Panama in effect sold the Chinese rights to two prime, American-built port facilities which flank the canal zone both to the east and the west. The 50-year contract awarded Balboa, on the Pacific side, and Cristobal, on the Atlantic side, to a giant Hong Kong shipping firm, Hutchison Whampoa, Ltd. By any analysis this company, headed by Li Kashing is an interesting operation: · Hutchison has worked closely with the China Ocean Shipping Co. (COSCO) on shipping deals in Asia even before Hong Kong reverted to Beijing's control in 1997. COSCO, you may remember, is the PLA-controlled company that almost succeeded in gaining control of the abandoned naval station at Long Beach California…."
WorldTribune.com 3/1/99 Robert Morton "…Li Kashing has served on the board of directors of China International Trust and Investment Corp., a PLA-affiliated giant run by Wang Jun whose name may ring a bell. Yes, the very same Wang Jun enjoyed coffee at the White House in exchange for a modest donation to the Clinton-Gore 1996 slush fund….Shortly after President Clinton announced the departure of the U.S. military from Panama, the Bank of China extended a 15-year, $120 million loan to Panama at a 3 percent interest rate. Nice. This was during the 1996 U.S. presidential campaign, incidentally, when boatloads of Chinese money were also making their way into the coffers of the Democratic Party. And the DNC chairman that year was Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd who along with Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor, Robert Pastor, supports the turnover as passionately now as they did in 1977…."
WorldTribune.com 3/1/99 Robert Morton "…Well, if the White House was for sale, why not the Panama Canal? The fine print in the China-Panama deal should outrage any competent commander in chief. Panama's Law No. 5 was a secret provision, passed by the legislative assembly on Jan. 16, 1997 that may have violated both the 1977 Panama Canal treaties and the Panamanian constitution. Among other things Law No. 5 provided Hutchison Whampoa: · "First option" to take over the U.S. Rodman naval station; ·"Rights" to operate piloting and tug boat services for the canal and private roads near the two ports; · Authority in the words of Adm. Moorer's testimony "to deny ships access to the ports and entrances of the canal if they are deemed to be interfering with Hutchison's business – in direct violation of the 1977 Panama Canal Treaty which guarantees expeditious passage for the United States Navy."…"
Conservative News Service 3/8/99 Lawrence Morahan "…[Admiral] Moorer predicted in 1978, the year after President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty with the Central American country giving control of the canal to Panama at the end of the century, that a U.S. withdrawal would occasion a dangerous vacuum that would possibly be filled by Soviet interests. Two decades later, in June 1998, Moorer testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that his worst fears had been realized. The left-leaning government of Panama sold controlling rights of the American-built port facilities that flank the canal zone on the east and the west. The 50-year contract awarded Balboa on the Pacific, and Cristobal on the Atlantic, to Hong Kong shipping conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. The company has close links to the China Ocean Shipping Co., which is controlled by the People's Liberation Army of China. Moorer, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commander of both the Pacific and Atlantic fleets, contends the communist Chinese surreptitiously gained a stronghold on the Panama Canal. "My specific concern is that this company is controlled by the communist Chinese," Moorer said. "And they have virtually accomplished, without a single shot being fired, a stronghold on the Panama Canal, something which took our country so many years to accomplish."…"
Reuters 3/12/99 Michael Winfrey "…The withdrawal of U.S. forces from Panama enters a final stage Thursday as the symbolic handover of Rodman Naval Base marks the twilight of a controversial military presence lasting almost a century. Panama's President Ernesto Perez Balladares and the commander of the U.S. North Atlantic Navy Fleet, Adm. Paul Reason, will attend a ceremony at which control of Rodman will be symbolically transferred to the Panamanians. The full handover of the base will be completed by April 30, a U.S. Army official said. Under a 1977 treaty signed by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and the late Panamanian Gen. Omar Torrijos, the United States must pull out all of its troops from Panama and hand over the Canal and all other facilities to the Panamanian government by noon on Dec. 31, 1999. ``The pace of the transfer is quickening in general,'' said U.S. Army spokesman Col. Byron Connover. ``We begin moving in earnest at the end of May. By June we'll be deactivating units, and by July all of the personnel's families will have left Panama.'' …"
http://www.ConservativeNews.org 4/9/99 Lawrence Morahan "..."While people are focusing on Serbia, they are overlooking massive corruption involving our relationship with communist China, including the turnover of crucially important security assets in the isthmus of Panama, creating a vacuum that communist China is filling," Howard Phillips, president of the Conservative Caucus, told CNS. .... "The foreign and military policies of the United States should be geared to the defense of our country, and they're not," Phillips said. "While we're inappropriately using resources in Serbia, we are surrendering the major battle of World War III by abandoning our strategic position in the isthmus of Panama to the Chinese.".... "
THE NEW AMERICAN Freeper report dated 4/11/99 Admiral Thomas H. Moorer "... Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, who has served America as Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet, Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet, Chief of Naval Operations, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is a genuine American legend...Admiral Moorer serves as honorary chairman of U.S. Defense-American Victory, a private educational group dedicated to America's defense and national security..... Rear Admiral C. A. "Mark" Hill began his naval career in World War II as a lieutenant on the U.S.S. Ray, one of the most decorated submarines of the war..... Admirals Moorer and Hill were interviewed by senior editor William F. Jasper at the Army-Navy Club in Washington, DC on February 10th, as the U.S. Senate began final deliberations in the impeachment trial of President Clinton…."
THE NEW AMERICAN Freeper report dated 4/11/99 Admiral Thomas H. Moorer"…Q. ... Aren't there a number of very serious concerns involved with this matter [Panama] that are being ignored by the Clinton Administration, Congress, and the media? Adm. Moorer. Yes, one of the issues which we have been addressing lately that has been completely ignored by just about everybody is the fact that the Red Chinese are poised to effectively take control of the Panama Canal. As your magazine pointed out very well in your issue on Chinagate, the Clinton Administration, in numerous ways, has been helping China build its military forces into a formidable, modern threat that can challenge our interests around the world. But the Panama Canal is very close to home and is one of our most vital commercial and military assets. In 1996, while China was illegally pouring millions of dollars into Clinton's re-election effort, it was also funneling huge amounts of cash to Panamanian politicians to ensure that one of its front companies, Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong, could move in when we vacate. In 1997, Panama secretly turned over the American-built port facility at Balboa, which controls shipping on the Pacific side, and at Cristobal, which controls shipping on the Atlantic side, to Hutchison. Over the next several months we are scheduled to turn over Rodman Naval Station, Howard Air Force Base, and other important military facilities to Panama, which has given Hutchison an option on these bases. This means that very soon we could see Communist China in control of one of the world's most strategic waterways in our own backyard. President Clinton may say that they are our friends and allies, but the Chinese military and Communist Party literature refer to the United States as "the main enemy." And despite what President Clinton, Henry Kissinger, and the media may tell you about "reform" in China, it is still run by a brutal, totalitarian, Communist regime that will do us harm if and when it thinks it can get the better of us....."
THE NEW AMERICAN Freeper report dated 4/11/99 Admiral Thomas H. Moorer "... Q. Americans, unfortunately, are woefully ignorant of world geography in general and of geo-strategic maritime choke points in particular. Why is an appreciation of this so vitally important? Adm. Moorer. Admiral Hill put his finger on the key word: logistics, the critical factor in any military operation. You cannot unload a division of troops ashore without having a steady stream of food, ammunition, uniforms, fuel, medical supplies, etc. The Air Force, for example, has the bulky problem of fuel - massive quantities of fuel - if it is going to have sustained operations. The fuel demand is tremendous when you have bombers, fighters, transports, and helicopters. You can't fly fuel into a foreign base in adequate amounts to fulfill their requirements. When you talk about moving logistic support by airlift you're talking about ounces; when you talk about logistic support that actually takes place with ships, you're dealing in tons. That's why the flexibility of movement of the maritime forces from ocean to ocean has been vital to the success of our strategy. And that's why it is vital to our survival to recognize when a hostile nation maneuvers to gain strategic dominance of these sea lanes. Unlike most other countries, we haven't been invaded and destroyed, and haven't had full-scale combat here on our own soil for over 100 years. One reason for this is that we are a maritime power....."
4/17/99 F.R. Duplantier "..."Communist China is the greatest emerging threat to United States security," observes retired Coast Guard Captain G. Russell Evans. "It has the largest army in the world, may soon have the second largest economy, and is rapidly building up its navy and air force." Evans is alarmed that "the Clinton administration has allowed allies of Red China . . . to take over the Canal ports and possibly secure other critical military facilities at the Panama Canal, only 900 miles from the United States!" ....Evans also warns that "Red Chinese J-11 attack jets, if launched from air facilities in Panama, could strike the mainland United States. Each J-11 can drop over 13,000 pounds of bombs," he observes, "and China will have over 100 J-11s in the next few years. This is the potential should Red China muscle into U.S. air bases in Panama," Evans explains. He adds that "Communist China will also have a critical base for its warships in our backyard with the Balboa and Cristobal ports." ...Captain Evans bemoans "the complete lack of interest in the United States government to protect its national security and treaty rights. There is a disturbing neglect of security matters in the Clinton administration," he charges, "in refusing to move to protect our clear and vital interests in Panama and in refusing to assert American rights spelled out in the Panama treaties." Evans urges Congress to "act immediately to halt the Communist Chinese infiltration into the Panama Canal and reassert American security interests in this vital waterway." Congress should also investigate the impact of foreign campaign contributions on the administration's policy of either ignoring or actively facilitating these potential threats to our national security...."
House Subcommittee Hearing 5/05/99 Bob Barr Freeper newsman ".... "The Clinton Administration has ignored the importance of Panama to American interests despite involving the U.S. military in record numbers of conflicts around the world. I encourage the President to reverse this situation by beginning a serious dialogue about this issue," Barr concluded, noting that we have a unique opportunity to move a dialogue forward with the new President-elect, Mireya Moscoso....."
Xinhua via NewsEdge Corporation 5/18/99 Freeper Thanatos "…U.S. ambassador to Panama Simon Ferro Tuesday delivered two patrol ships to the Panamanian authorities to reinforce the maritime borders of the country. "These boats are not a present from the United States to Panama, it is an investment," Ferro said. Ferro, a lawyer of Cuban origin, was designated this year as the White House representative in Panama, and has the mission of overseeing the total withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Panama and the handover of the Panama Canal on December 31…."
http://www.usia.gov 5/28/99 USIA Freeper Thanatos "...About 500 additional U.S. military personnel have been withdrawn from the Panama Canal, as the United States prepares to transfer control of the 81 kilometer-long waterway to Panama on December 31...."
WorldNetDaily 10/19/98 Edward G. Oliver ".Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, USN (Ret.), a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in closed session last summer that the U.S. is heading toward a confrontation with China over the Panama Canal, according to testimony obtained by WorldNetDaily. "I'm an old sailor now, but I know trouble when I see it, and Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of this committee, I see big trouble in Panama -- trouble that could evolve quickly into a conflict in our own hemisphere with world-wide implications," said Moorer. "Mr. Chairman, I speak of the transfer of the Panama Canal to the Panamanian government under the circumstances which now exist. There's far more going on there than meets the eye.".."Mr. Chairman, I have been honored to serve as this nation's commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet; commander in chief, Atlantic and Atlantic Fleet; chief of naval operations, and chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff," said Moorer. "I truly can't remember a time when I have been more concerned about the security of our country. ..." …"
WorldNetDaily 10/19/98 Edward G. Oliver "….Moorer pointed out that Panama Ports Company (PPC) controls four of Panama's major ports. He identified PPC's principal owners as: Billionaire Li Ka-Shing (reportedly an ally "as close as lips and teeth" to Beijing, which offered Ka-Shing the governorship of Hong Kong ); Li Ka-Shing owns PPC's parent company, Hutchinson-Whampoa Ltd., China Resources Enterprise, an arm of the Chinese government identified as an "agent of espionage" by Sen. Fred Thompson. The entity is also a solid partner with the Lippo Group, owned by the Riady family of Indonesia, also identified as possible espionage agents for the People's Liberation Army. He also pointed out that the deal granting sweeping concessions to Hutchinson-Whampoa states that the company has the right to pilot all ships through the canal, raising the specter of the Chinese piloting U.S. Navy ships -- or refusing to -- after the U.S. hands over complete control next year. Moorer attacked as illegal Panama's "Law #5," which permits other military forces, defense sites and installations in the canal zone and raised concerns about infiltration of Panama again by drug lords. In contrast to the indifference displayed by the State Department about Hutchinson's grip on the canal ports, the admiral expressed grave concern before the committee. "Hutchinson-Whampoa controls countless ports around the world," he said.
WorldNetDaily 10/19/98 Edward G. Oliver "…."My specific concern is that this company is controlled by the Communist Chinese. They have virtually accomplished, without a single shot being fired, a stronghold on the Panama Canal, something which took our country so many years to accomplish -- the building and control of the Panama Canal, along with military and commercial access in our own hemisphere...Moorer expressed frustration with the Clinton administration's approach to national security as the date Dec.31, 1999, nears -- the date the U.S. relinquishes the last vestiges of control over the canal..He continued: "We are not talking here about an ill- funded Nicaraguan effort against the Communists in the late '80s; we are talking about the control of a strategic part of the world in our hemisphere, shortly to be controlled by the largest country on earth, Communist China, financially flush and people-strong with a growing imbalance of men over women. ... I can tell you honestly and truthfully, with strong conviction, that somebody needs to take a long, hard look at our vulnerability in the Panama Canal Zone."."
www.lakesregion.com [Current News Forum] CJ Barr 3/5/99 "…Call this a hunch. China has, for some time now, been quite busily moving its pieces around the board. Some of the moves make complete sense in a classical, theoretical way. It is, for example, entirely clear why an Asian power would like to position itself to be able to temporarily control access to the Panama Canal. Or why China, a major land power, would want to extend its power seaward. Or why they would want to deploy their own nuclear deterrent. But what if these moves are of more than theoretical significance? What if, as suggested by the mainland's smuggling of major amounts of explosives onto Taiwan, they are preparing for an actual military move against that island? It is quite possible that conditions will propel them into such a move within the next two years. American forces are spread thin. Significant assets are bogged down in the Persian Gulf and in various Serbia-related missions. Korea is showing signs of boiling over. Russia is unstable and, increasingly, hostile to America's foreign policy goals…In many ways, Clinton has been the ideal American president for China's ambitions. He has been open to their attempts at bribery. He has tolerated China's weapons transfers to areas that might later serve as diversions. He has helped Chica modernize its forces. He has allowed American readiness to collapse while recklessly deploying her forces on humanitarian and peacekeeping missions all over the globe. He has shown himself to be a weak and vacillating negotiator. And his administration has been reluctant to follow through with threats or act decisively -- except against foes powerless to resist…"
China Times 6/27/99 CAN "...US Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) has introduced a House resolution prohibiting US assistance to Panama if a defense site or military installation built or formerly operated by the United States is provided by the Panamanian government to any foreign government-owned entity. A US congressional delegation that recently toured Central America in anticipation of the handover of the Panama Canal at the end of this year concluded in its report that mainland Chinese dominance of the Panama Canal zone represents a threat to US security. The US-Panama Security act of 1999, introduced by Hunter on June 16, was referred for consideration to the House Committees on International Relations, Banking and Financial Services, Armed Forces, and Intelligence. Hunter noted that a recent grant to Hutchison Whampoa, a Hong Kong firm with ties to the Beijing government, of management control of the Panamanian ports at either end of the Panama Canal has raised the specter of the expansion of mainland Chinese political influence in Panama, a situation aggravated by unanswered questions concerning the methods used by the Hong Kong firm to win its bid. The resolution requires the US president to submit to the Congress a report explaining how Hutchison Whampoa was selected to receive a grant for management control of the Panamanian ports at either end of the Panama Canal, and whether or not the US government had any knowledge of ties between the Hong Kong firm and the Beijing regime. The bill also requires the secretary of defense to report to the Congress on the extent to which such control by Hutchison Whampoa poses a threat to the security of the United States, and how the US strategic interests with respect to the Panama Canal will continue to be protected after its handover to Panama....."
Softwar.net Charles Smith 6/23/99 "...The Panama Canal, one of the world's key strategic waterways, is scheduled to be turned over to the Panamanian government on December 31, 1999. The Canal remains vital to American trade and defense capabilities. The Canal remains the vital sea link in the Western Hemisphere between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and an economic and logistical bridgehead between North America and South America. Currently, some 15 to 20 percent of total U.S. exports/imports pass through the Canal, including some 40% of all grain exports. It is also a vulnerable "front-line" state against the spread of narcotics and terrorism that plague its South American neighbors. Ironically, the day that the delegation arrived in Panama, a week after the closure of the U.S. counter-narcotics center at Howard Air Base, heavily-armed Colombian narco-terrorist forces operating on Panamanian soil, dressed in full combat gear, were interviewed on national television. ....... The People's Republic of China, through the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. company, which has close ties to the PRC government and People's Liberation Army (PLA), was granted a 25-year lease, with an additional 25 year option, for control of the Canals Atlantic and Pacific Ocean ports of Balboa and Cristobal and adjacent facilities. The delegation witnessed Hutchison Whampoa conducting major construction and port facility expansion at both the Atlantic and Pacific Canal ports. Hutchison Whampoa will control the stevedoring [loading and unloading of ship cargo] at the ports. The company also has a substantial interest in the railroad line that coordinates transportation of cargo between the ports. In addition, the Chinese company is a major bidder on construction of a new suspension bridge that will link "land canal" highways that will truck oversized cargo containers between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts...."
AFP 6/22/99 "... Panama is defenseless against attacks by Colombian rebels and Washington should do everything it can to help Panama beef up its security forces, a top US general and a senator said Tuesday. Months ahead of a US troop pullout from the Central American nation as a century-old Panama Canal treaty draws to a close, Republican Senator Paul Coverdell and Commander in Chief of US Southern Command, General Charles Wilhelm, said they were concerned with Panama's vulnerability. "As our forces withdraw in compliance with the treaties," Wilhelm told a Senate panel, "I have concerns about the ability of local security forces to deal with the security challenges that confront Panama." "The Panamanian Public Forces are neither organized nor equipped to deal with incursions by Colombian insurgents into the Darien and San Blas provinces," Wilhelm told a hearing of a Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee....Panama's Defense Forces were disbanded after the United States invaded Panama in 1994 to arrest military strongman Manuel Noriega. Currently, the country only has a National Police force that lacks military capabilities. Last week, the Colombian army said leftist rebels were crossing the border into Panama to escape their military pursuers...."
Stratfor.com Global Intelligence Center 6/23/99 "... 2230 GMT, 990623 Panama/U.S. - Panamanian Foreign Minister Jorge Ritter reacted sharply to comments made yesterday by U.S. Southern Command Chief Gen. Charles Wilhelm who warned the ongoing withdrawal of U.S. troops from Panama is creating a security threat to Panama. Wilhelm said the absence of U.S. troops in Panama will leave the nation open to Colombian rebels and drug runners, posing a potential threat to the security of the Panama Canal. Ritter responded by saying that Panama did not need U.S. troops to protect its borders. "Never have the U.S. military forces been here to guard our borders, and they have even less to do with the security of Panama," Ritter told reporters. "Nor do they have anything to do with the security of the canal." Ritter charged, "The growth of drugs in Panama did not begin with the withdrawal of U.S. troops, but instead... grew while there were military bases in Panama."...."
http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/1999/08-02-99/vo15no16_canal.htm Thomas Moorer 8/2/99 "…In reality, if we allow this suicidal course to continue, we will be transferring our strategic canal not to Panama, but to whichever power moves in to fill the vacuum. And there is no longer any cause to wonder which power that will be. Over the past several years, the People’s Republic of China has made unmistakably clear its designs upon the Panama Canal. In fact, it has already moved in and begun to take control of this critically important asset….. Over the past year, the American people began to get a glimpse of the enormity and gravity of the multitude of ongoing Clinton scandals known collectively as "Chinagate." However, Clinton’s allies in the media have been only too willing to help the White House divert attention from these serious matters…..As injurious as the many Chinagate treacheries have been to our nation’s security, the impending surrender of our Panama Canal is more serious still…..In warfare, time means lives, and that much time can mean the difference between defeat and victory. The Panama Canal has played a crucial role in World Wars I and II, the Korean War, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and many other conflicts…." http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/1999/08-02-99/vo15no16_canal.htm Thomas Moorer 8/2/99 "…On January 28th of this year, Fidel Castro’s Radio Havana reported that "Cuba and Panama signed at the Panamanian capital an agreement for the promotion and protection of investments in the two countries, as well as a basic cooperation agreement between the two governments. …. Castro has pulled every string available to aid Red China and to sabotage their opponents and competitors. The Chinese Communists have been allowed to order the Panama Canal Commission out of their ports, thus creating large zones into which anything, including armaments, could be shipped in sealed containers without monitoring or inspection. Such sealed containers could contain missiles with nuclear warheads that could be easily launched to reach targets within the continental United States. It was not so long ago that Chinese officials warned that U.S. intervention in any PRC-Taiwan conflict could result in the nuclear vaporization of Los Angeles. With a missile base in Panama, China would be in a good position to carry out such a threat, or to blackmail us into submission….."AP 7/7/99 "…Panama's president demanded Wednesday that the United States clear out the remains of explosives at military bases being handed over along with the Panama Canal by the end of the year. ``I advise the United States that its responsibility to clean up does not end with the handover and it should respond by indemnifying people who end up injured,'' Ernesto Perez Balladares said in a speech. The United States last week turned over one of the areas used for war exercises and target practice. Two others remain…."
The Center For Security Policy 7/2/99 "…On 23 June, Hutchison USA announced its investment of $957 million into the combined telecommunications company of Voicestream Wireless and Omnipoint. Hutchison is already the largest shareholder in Voicestream, owning 24% of the company and its latest investment will increase its ownership to 30% of the newly merged conglomerate….Hutchison USA is a division of the large Hong Kong business conglomerate, Hutchison Whampoa, whose business ventures include real estate, port ownership in Asia, Europe and Panama, retail and manufacturing, and telecommunications and energy projects. Owned largely by billionaire Li Ka-shing, the company has recently initiated an extensive overseas acquisition strategy. Among other companies, Li is also the principal owner of the Panama Ports Company and China Resources Enterprise which collectively control four major ports at the eastern and western entry points to the Panama Canal. In a recent hearing before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on U.S. interests in the Panama Canal, a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Thomas H. Moorer (USN, Ret.) raised an alarm over Hutchison's role -- and that of the Chinese government -- in Panama.
The Center For Security Policy 7/2/99 "…As Adm. Moorer put it: ...There's far more going on [in Panama] then meets the eye. A company called Panama Ports Company, S.A., affiliated with Hutchinson Whampoa, Ltd. through its owner, Mr. Li Ka-Shing, currently maintains control of four of the Panama Canal's major ports. Now, Panama Port Company is 10 percent owned by China Resources Enterprise, the commercial arm of China's Ministry of Trade and Economic Cooperation….. In their best-selling book, Year of the Rat, Edward Timperlake and William C. Triplett III claimed that China Resources "had previously been identified as an associate of Chinese military intelligence." The authors also identified ties between Li Ka-shing and known arms-smuggler Wang Jun, head of Polytechnologies, an enterprise closely associated with the People's Liberation Army.,,,, The Senate [Government Reform] Committee...revealed that Hutchison Whampoa's subsidiary, HIT, has business ventures with the China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO), which is owned by the People's Liberation Army. COSCO has been criticized for shipping Chinese missiles, missile components, jet fighters and other weapons technologies to nations such as Libya, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan. In 1996, the U.S. Customs Service seized a shipment of 2,000 automatic weapons aboard a COSCO ship at the port of Oakland, California. The man identified as the arms dealer, Wang Jun, is the head of China's Polytechnologies Company, the international outlet for Chinese weapons sales. Jun also sits on the Board of the China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC),(1) the chief investment arm of the Chinese central government. It is also the bank of the People's Liberation Army, providing financing for Chinese Army weapons sales and for the purchase of Western technology. Jun's fellow CITIC Board member is Mr. Li Ka-shing, chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd…."
The Center For Security Policy 7/2/99 "…Li Ka-shing has profound ties to the Beijing regime. Li has invested more than a billion dollars in China and owns most of the dock space in Hong Kong. In an exclusive deal with the People's Republic of China's communist government, Li has the right of first-refusal over all PRC ports south of the Yangtze river, which involves a close working relationship with the Chinese military and businesses controlled by the People's Liberation Army. Li has served as a middle man for PLA business dealings with the West. For example, Li financed several satellite deals between the U.S. Hughes Corporation and China Hong Kong Satellite [CHINASAT], a company owned by the People's Liberation Army. In 1997, Li Ka-shing and the Chinese Navy nearly obtained four huge roll-on/roll-off container ships -- which can be used for transporting military cargo -- in a deal that would have been financed by U.S. taxpayers. A June 1997 Rand report, "Chinese Military Commerce and U.S. National Security," stated, "Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong, controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, is also negotiating for PLA wireless system contracts, which would build upon his equity interest in Poly-owned Yangpu Land Development Company, which is building infrastructure on China's Hainan Island." In 1998, Li Ka-shing attempted to issue $2 billion in bonds, through his Hutchison company, in the United States. According to the Dow Jones Newswire, Hutchison revealed that 50 percent of the bonds would be used through a subsidiary known as Chung Kiu Communications Ltd., which had signed agreements to provide cellular services and equipment to joint ventures between the People's Liberation Army and the Chinese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. (Emphasis added.) …"
The New American 8/2/99 Admiral Thomas Moorer (USN Ret) 7/23/99 "...The United States appears to be sleep-walking on a course to sure destruction, and America's leaders, who have plotted this course, appear to be completely oblivious to the mortal danger they are leading us into. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the imminent giveaway of the U.S. Canal in Panama. In just a few months, unless the American people raise a terrific outcry, this strategic waterway, so vital to our economy and national security, will be turned over to Panama.... In reality, if we allow this suicidal course to continue, we will be transferring our strategic canal not to Panama, but to whichever power moves in to fill the vacuum. And there is no longer any cause to wonder which power that will be. Over the past several years, the People's Republic of China has made unmistakably clear its designs upon the Panama Canal. In fact, it has already moved in and begun to take control of this critically important asset.......it is one of the great untold stories that have been completely ignored by our news media. If we proceed along our present course, by the end of this year, on December 31st, Communist China will become the de facto new owners and rulers of the Panama Canal...."
Investor's Business Daily 7/28/99 Brian Mitchell "...The U.S. Department of Energy calls it a ''major transit center for oil shipments and a potential choke point.'' At year's end, the transit center and choke point will slip from U.S. control into the hands of a Hong Kong company with close ties to the Chinese government and military. The surrender of the Panama Canal has been scheduled for years, since the Senate approved the Carter-Torrijos Treaties in 1978. But U.S. officials are only now coming to terms with what the pullout will mean....."
AP 7/30/99 George Gedda "...A retired Army general joined Thursday with House Republicans in warning that the phase-out of the U.S. military presence in Panama could be a boon to South American narcotraffickers. ``Panama is critical to counterdrug efforts,'' said retired Gen. George A. Joulwan, who once led all U.S. military operations in Latin America. Testifying before the House International Relations Committee, Joulwan said losing the U.S. military infrastructure in Panama will affect the U.S. ability to prosecute the war on drugs. Under the Panama Canal treaties, the United States has until the end of the year to terminate all military operations in Panama -- a process that is well under way. Committee chairman Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., said the authors of the 1979 pact ``could not have foreseen neighboring Colombia's drug-fueled agony, nor the sophistication of the drug cartels' corrupting criminal reach.'' Gilman said it was a mistake for the United States to have put itself in the position of closing Howard Air Force Base, from which 15,000 military flights had taken off annually. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., said Panama has no army, navy or air force with which to combat ``the well-armed narcoterrorist forces'' in Colombia In addition, he said the Panama Canal, instead of reverting to Panamanian control as prescribed under the treaties, ``is now in the hands of communist China,'' saying numerous entities with close ties to China's People's Liberation Army are very active in Panama...."
Chattanooga Free Press 8/8/99 "...The 51 miles of the American Panama Canal between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans cut 8,000 miles off the ocean-to-ocean trip. Is that canal -- "our" canal -- now about to be surrendered to the control of Chinese Communists? .... an engineering wonder came into being -- open to the shipping of all the nations of the world -- under U.S. guarantees. Our canal became Panama's biggest business and supporter of its economy, from the shipping and military bases in the area. Sure, it was natural for Panamanian nationalist feelings to be stirred and for demands to be made to turn the canal over to Panama. After all, covetousness is a sin that has always existed. But it was "our" canal. We bought it. We paid for it. We built it. We should keep it. But Mr. Carter had a different idea, and Sen. Baker delivered his and other votes to make it possible for the United States to promise to give away our canal that provides convenient ocean-to-ocean transit for more than 13,000 ships each year. But the treaty mistakenly ratified by the United States Senate under our constitutional process was not the same treaty approved by the government of Panama's General Omar Torrijos! So great was the U.S. opposition to Mr. Carter's Panama Canal surrender that "the DeConcini Reservation" was added to it. It did not cure the danger of the Carter giveaway but did "guarantee" to the United States the right to use military force -- with or without the consent of Panama -- if that was deemed necessary to keep the canal open. But Torrijos never agreed to that! Mr. Carter allowed Gen. Torrijos to approve a different "agreement." A deal involving different understandings by the two parties should be no deal at all. But unless something is done by the United States Senate before midnight Dec. 31, our canal will be gone....."
House of Representatives 4/15/97 Rep Cunningham "...Now, let's take a look at a Communist-owned and controlled facility in Long Beach Naval Shipyard. Hutchinson Group, also owned by Communist China, recently purchased both ends of the Panama Canal. This would give the Chinese control of the Panama Canal, it would give them control of Long Beach Naval Shipyard, and all of the access to and from and who sees what and where it goes. We feel that this would be a major national security threat....Panama Canal, one of the most strategic locations on the globe, has been brought under COSCO's web. Hutchinson Port Holdings Incorporated, a Hong Kong operated, controlled, again by a corporation, by Chinese Communists with direct ties to the Pacific and Atlantic entrances to the Panama Canal and global, syndicated columnist, Georgie Anne Geyer, Universal Press Syndicate, March 26, 1997....At the same time, Mr. Speaker, we lost the Panama Canal, both ends of it, to Communist China owned companies. We had an American company from Alabama that bid on those same sites. They won the contracts for both of those sites. It was selected by Panama. After selection, after announcement, the Chinese government went in with sacks of cash, much like they did with our government here in the United States, and said, here is $25,000 for you, here is another $25,000 for you. And guess what? That decision was reversed and it went to Chinese Communists instead of a U.S. based firm...."
AP 8/9/99 "... President Ernesto Perez Balladares on Monday denied reports that he had pressured officials to approve visas for Chinese citizens as part of an alleged immigrant smuggling scheme. The Miami Herald in its Monday edition quoted Panama's fired intelligence chief, Samantha Smith, as saying that Perez Balladares had pressured her to approve visas for about 140 Chinese citizens who she said planned to head for the United States. ``There is a confusion here,'' Perez Balladares told reporters. ..."
Miami Herald 8/8/99 Glenn Garvin "...The head of Panama's intelligence agency and several of her subordinates, as well as the director of Tocumen International Airport and the head of the national police's aviation service, were fired in mid-June after President Ernesto Perez Balladares learned of the investigation. Meanwhile, the investigation also has touched off a serious dispute between the U.S. Justice Department and Simon Ferro, the American ambassador here. Justice Department officials angrily accused Ferro of blowing the secrecy of the investigation by canceling the U.S. visa of the Panamanian intelligence chief. Neither government is willing to discuss the scandal on the record. Perez Balladares' office wouldn't answer questions. And a U.S. embassy spokesman would say only: ``We don't have any comment on this.'' ...Neal Kuo, publisher of Panama's Chinese-language daily El Expreso, said he talked with 31 illegal immigrants on a single flight from Hong Kong last month. ``And one of my reporters made the same flight recently, and she said there were about 30 on her plane, too,'' Kuo added..... "
Miami Herald 8/8/99 Glenn Garvin "... The Herald was able to piece together this picture of the ring's operations: Chinese citizens paid as much as $15,000 for visas permitting them to fly from Hong Kong to Panama. Upon arrival here, they were escorted out of Tocumen International Airport through the diplomatic lounge, avoiding ordinary immigration checkpoints. Most of the Chinese then headed north across the virtually unguarded border to Costa Rica, where they made contact with so-called coyotes who guide migrants up the Central American isthmus to cross into California or Texas.... The scheme would be impossible without cooperation from within the National Security Council, Panama's intelligence agency, which must approve visa requests from what the government considers ``sensitive'' countries -- Cuba, Arab nations and mainland China...."
http://www.washtimes.com/index.html 8/12/99 Rowan Scarborough "...Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott recently wrote to Defense Secretary William S. Cohen that a Chinese shipping company is gaining broad authority over the Panama Canal and could deny passage to U.S. ships. "It appears that we have given away the farm without a shot being fired," the Mississippi Republican said in the Aug. 1 letter requesting Mr. Cohen's security assessment. It was the first time a congressional leader has raised questions about growing Chinese influence over one of the world's most strategic waterways. Until now, warnings were being raised primarily by a handful of conservative lawmakers, led by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican, who plans a fact-finding trip to Panama on Monday. The focus of concern is Hutchinson Whampoa Ltd., a giant Hong Kong-based shipping firm with ties to China's leadership and its armed forces, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Under circumstances the U.S. Embassy in Panama called unusual, the government in 1997 awarded Hutchinson a 25- to 50-year contract to run the two major ports on the canal's Atlantic and Pacific entrances.....Mr. Santoli said the canal is part of a Chinese strategy to move into countries abandoned by the United States and the former Soviet Union. In Cuba, for example, Chinese intelligence officials are helping Cuba build a communications facility, he said. "They're using Panama as a staging area for the region," Mr. Santoli said. "They're doing a massive amount of construction, a lot of investment. Literally hundreds of mainland Chinese are moving into Panama at all levels." The Miami Herald on Monday quoted Panama's ousted intelligence chief as accusing his country's president, Ernesto Perez Balladares, of personally demanding visas for 140 Chinese immigrants. The newspaper said the U.S. Justice Department is investigating a scheme in which Chinese immigrants paid $15,000 each for visas to use Panama as a staging area for illegal entry into the United States....."
Charleston Post and Courier 8/12/99 "...Overtures by the incoming government in Panama, which has expressed interest in reaching an agreement to allow American military and anti-narcotics operations to resume after the end-of-the-year hand-over of canal and U.S. installations, should be warmly welcomed. Fears that Panama could once again become a center for drug distribution, money laundering and anti-U.S. espionage will be eased by the remarks of Jose Miguel Aleman, who will become foreign minister when newly-elected President Mireyra Moscoso assumes office Sept. 1. In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, Mr. Aleman noted Panama's "very significant historical, sociological, economic and commercial relationships with the United States." He went on to reassure Washington, "... we want to maintain excellent relationships with the United States and help in any matter that the United States would consider in its national security interests." ...Outgoing President Ernesto Perez Balladares refused to consider a U.S. proposal to retain Howard Air Force Base. His attitude was not surprising. Mr. Balladares is a protege of Gen. Noriega. The former Panamanian dictator is serving a long sentence in a U.S. jail for drug trafficking. Mr. Balladares is also the leader of the party founded by the late Gen. Omar Torrijos, a popular dictator who became a national hero when he persuaded the United States to give up the canal and U.S. facilities in the zone. Mr. Aleman indicated that after the formal hand-over of the canal and the withdrawal of the remaining American troops, the new Panamanian government would welcome a proposal that would allow U.S. military access to combat drug trafficking and to protect national security. ..."
UPI 8/12/99 "...The Pentagon has rejected the notion that a Chinese effort to build cargo unloading facilities at either end of the strategically vital Panama Canal could be a threat to U.S. national security, Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon says (Thursday). Senate Republican leader Trent Lott recently wrote to Defense Secretary William Cohen expressing concern that the facilities could be used to bar access to the canal, which links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and is heavily trafficked by U.S. naval vessels...."
Fox news wire 8/12/99 "...The United States said Thursday it was satisfied that China will not try to command the Panama Canal despite Republican fears over a Hong Kong firm's control of ports at each end of the strategic waterway.
Republicans are worried about what they consider China's growing influence over the Panama Canal, which is to be turned over to Panama on Dec. 31 under a 1977 treaty. Panama in 1997 awarded a 25- to 50-year contract to giant Hong Kong shipping firm Hutchinson-Whampoa Ltd. to operate the two major ports on each end of the canal, which connects the Atlantic and the Pacific. The Washington Times reported Thursday that the shipping firm has ties to China's communist leadership and its armed forces, the People's Liberation Army. "The United States is satisfied our interests will be protected after the canal is turned over this December,'' said David Leavy, spokesman for the White House National Security Council. "We have seen no capability on the part of the PRC (People's Republic of China), which is a heavy user of the canal, to disrupt this operation. So I would caution people not to get too alarmist over this issue,'' he said....Leavy said American ships are guaranteed access to the canal under a law that governs the contract of the Hong Kong firm with Panama....."
Dallas Morning News 8/10/99 Tod Robberson "...Panama is willing to reopen talks with the United States regarding the use of its territory for American military and counternarcotics operations, the incoming foreign minister said Monday. Foreign minister-designate Jose Miguel Aleman said the government of President-elect Mireya Moscoso, who will take office Sept. 1, wants to take a fresh look at the issue of U.S. military access once the 1979 Panama Canal treaties are fully implemented at the end of this year. The incumbent government of President Ernesto Perez Balladares has categorically rejected the idea of any extended U.S. military presence and has demanded the full withdrawal of all U.S. military personnel from Panama by Dec. 31, as required under the canal treaties. U.S. officials acknowledge that the loss of access to Panama, home to Howard Air Force Base, the region's top counternarcotics surveillance outpost, has put a crimp in American anti-drug efforts. Although Howard is still operating, its counternarcotics flights have been transferred to other sites in Ecuador, Aruba and Curacao. Panama, which has no military, is described by U.S. officials as increasingly vulnerable to drug traffickers and guerrilla incursions from its southern neighbor, Colombia, the largest single source of cocaine and heroin sold in the United States...."
The Times 8/13/99 David Adams "...Mr Lott and others are worried by the operations of Hutchinson Whampoa, a large Hong Kong shipping company with ties to China, which in recent years has gained a big influence over canal traffic. The fears of Chinese domination in the US backyard come amid concern about China's global strategies, its human rights abuses and suspected spying at US nuclear laboratories. The United States protested in 1997 when the Panamanian Government awarded Hutchinson a contract to run the two ports at the canal's Atlantic and Pacific entrances. Since then Panamanian officials have been frequent visitors to Hong Kong and China, arousing suspicion of deeper ties. Yesterday China's Xinhua news agency announced that Alberto Vallarino, the Vice-President-elect of Panama, which is one of the few countries that recognise Taiwan, was visiting Beijing. After a recent trip to Panama by one US delegation, reports said that Panama had become the central base of operations for China in Latin America. According to critics of US policy, the recent changes in canal regulations could leave US commercial shipping and the navy "at the mercy" of China, potentially limiting or denying canal access to US vessels. But experts say the Republican fears are exaggerated. Despite the large Hong Kong-Chinese presence, US companies successfully compete for business at canal ports...."
The Washington Times 8/12/99 Rowan Scarborough "...The focus of concern is Hutchinson Whampoa Ltd., a giant Hong Kong-based shipping firm with ties to China's leadership and its armed forces, the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Under circumstances the U.S. Embassy in Panama called unusual, the government in 1997 awarded Hutchinson a 25- to 50-year contract to run the two major ports on the canal's Atlantic and Pacific entrances. Moreover, conservatives assert that Panama gave Hutchinson broader powers in legislation known as "Law No. 5." Al Santoli, an aide to Mr. Rohrabacher, said the law enables Hutchinson to assign the pilots who take control of ships and steer them through the canal. He also said the Chinese company can block passage of ships to meet its business needs. This contention was challenged by a spokesman for the Panama Canal Commission, a panel of five Americans and four Panamanians who run the waterway. The Panama Canal Commission spokesman said the treaty gives the United States the right to intervene militarily to protect access. Mr. Lott wrote to Mr. Cohen, "This administration is allowing a scenario to develop where U.S. national security interests could not be protected without confronting the Chinese communists in the Americas. U.S. naval ships will be at the mercy of Chinese-controlled pilots and could even be denied passage through the Panama Canal by Hutchinson, an arm of the People's Liberation Army. "In addition, the Chinese Communist Party will gain an intelligence information advantage by controlling this strategic chokepoint. It appears that we have given away the farm without a shot being fired.".... Military experts say a pattern of Chinese actions reveals a long-range strategic plan to dominate Asia and exert influence worldwide. The moves include its forays in Panama, its failed attempt to take over the old Long Beach, Calif., naval base, its suspected spying at U.S. nuclear labs, its illegal injection of campaign cash into Democratic Party coffers and its increased military spending, especially on nuclear weapons....."
The Center For Security Policy / http://www.security-policy.org/latest.html 8/10/99 "...Yesterday, President Clinton awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former President Jimmy Carter. The timing of this tribute was striking since two of the many foreign policy "chickens" loosed during the Carter Administration -- the surrender of the Panama Canal and the normalization of relations with the People's Republic of China -- are now coming home to roost. Of particular concern is the inattention by Mr. Clinton and his subordinates (many of whom, as the current president noted in the course of his remarks yesterday in Atlanta, previously had worked for President Carter) to the convergence of two trends initiated by the last Democratic chief executive: a vacuum of power at the strategic isthmus of Panama and a determination on the part of an increasingly assertive China to fill it at America's expense...."
Excerpts from China's Beachhead at Panama Canal by J. Michael Waller Insight Magazine 7/25/99 "...Under the terms of a controversial lease, Panama gave Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. the right to build new port facilities in Balboa, the canal's only Pacific port, and a major Atlantic port in Cristobal, and to run them up to the next half-century. As Beijing increased its economic muscle in the country, Panama's politicians gave Hutchison Whampoa the right to control anchorages on both ends of the canal, to hire new pilots to guide ships through the waterway, to block all passage that interferes with the company's business, to take control of key public roads near the canal and to have right of first refusal for control of some former U.S. military bases. "By most accounts, an unfair and corrupt contractual bidding process, which was protested by the U.S. ambassador to Panama, enabled the Chinese Hutchison Whampoa company to outmaneuver American and Japanese companies for the long-term lease on the canal ports," according to Al Santoli, an aide to Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California. Santoli has traveled the perimeter of the Pacific monitoring Chinese maritime encroachments from the Philippines to Panama. U.S. Ambassador to Panama William Hughes nearly was declared persona non grata for protesting the Hutchison deal when it was exposed three years ago, a U.S. official tells Insight. President Clinton responded by appointing Robert Pastor, an architect of the 1977 canal giveaway and an advocate for left-wing revolutionary causes, to replace Hughes. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms of North Carolina, one of the few lawmakers watching the Panama powder keg, blocked the nomination....
Excerpts from China's Beachhead at Panama Canal by J. Michael Waller Insight Magazine 7/25/99 "...Beijing is in Panama for the long haul. Hutchison Whampoa has the right to extend its leases until the year 2047 or to transfer them to a third party. Already a Chinese corporation called Great Wall Panama has secured a lease as long as 60 years for an export zone on the bank of the canal on the Atlantic side. "I have a sense that the U.S. is edgy about Hutchison Whampoa," former Panamanian Vice President Guillermo "Billy" Ford tells Insight. But Washington has done little to pressure the corrupt government of President Ernesto Perez Balladares to reopen the bidding. Last year, Balladares hired Clinton strategist James Carville as his personal consultant in a bid to keep power beyond his constitutional term, which expires this month. Balladares says he will step down, but he has packed the new Canal Commission with his pro-Beijing cronies. ..."
Excerpts from China's Beachhead at Panama Canal by J. Michael Waller Insight Magazine 7/25/99 "...Beijing uses large-scale emigration to base future intelligence assets abroad to recruit agents from ethnic Chinese communities, Insight has learned. And Panama is a key target. "One of the primary factors accounting for the success of Chinese intelligence is the exploitation of ... the vast emigration of Chinese to communities worldwide," according to Stanislav Lunev, a former Soviet military-intelligence colonel who operated in Beijing before defecting to the United States in 1992. According to Lunev, "The Chinese intention to develop oceangoing capabilities for its navy is well-known. But the Chinese navy does not yet have such worldwide capabilities at a time when it needs to have information about the perimeter of the Pacific region. This is the reason that Chinese entrepreneurs are actively in the market for abandoned port facilities in strategic locations." Lunev specifically cites the Panama Canal.
Heritage Foundation 8/19/99 John J Tierney, PhD "…But phasing out America's strategic presence in Panama carries serious consequences. Unless the Clinton Administration cements a new agreement to retain a direct U.S. presence in Panama, the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops will jeopardize the security of, as well as U.S. access to, the Canal. It will open the door for China to gain virtual control of the Panama Canal and assert its influence in the Western hemisphere; it also could make the war on drugs and terrorism more difficult…..The 1977 treaty transferring ownership of the Canal to Panama requires all U.S. military troops to leave when the treaty expires on December 31, 1999. Under the companion Treaty of Permanent Neutrality, which also becomes effective on that date, the United States retains the right to protect and defend the Canal beyond 2000. The U.S. instrument of ratification for the Neutrality Treaty allows both sides to negotiate an extension of the agreement giving the United States the right to station troops in Panama and enjoy basing rights there. ….Indeed, most Panamanians recognize that their government is unable to defend the Panama Canal or protect the country against the type of terrorist raids that Colombian guerrillas conducted in the Darien region in 1997. José Luis Sosa, director of Panama's National Police, said that Panama is "not in a condition to undertake a battle in the field with any group." In such a vulnerable environment, a U.S. priority should be the joint establishment of an effective security force…."
World Tribune.com 8/19/99 G Russell Evan "…In June, a group led by Richard Delgaudio of the National Security Center observed extensive construction, barbed wire fences and Chinese guards at the Panama Ports Company, which is controlled by the Hutchison Whampoa group, which in turn is controlled by the Peoples' Liberation Army of China. Mr. Delgaudio is rightly concerned about China's activities in the Panama Canal area in a year when the last U.S. military forces have been withdrawn from bases there and which will see the canal turned over to Panama by the United States on Dec. 31. Article V of the Neutrality Treaty allows Panama only in defense sites. Article VI gives U.S. warships "head of line" priority. Not so, says Panama Law No. 5 in its 50-year lease to Red China's agent Hutchison Port Holdings, with "priority" at the ports and "occupation" of Rodman Naval Station and part of Albrook Air Force Station — where Red China can base missiles, submarines and J-11 bombers 900 miles from Miami. Hutchison's construction projects at Balboa on the Pacific side include new piers and huge warehouses. Workers' uniforms and signs proclaim "Panama Ports Company," a smokescreen for Hutchison. The new administration building at the Balboa port is also labeled "Panama Ports Company" and houses Hutchison offices and Midland Bank, which is now owned by Chinese interests. Nearby is Cable & Wireless Communications, which is 25 percent owned by the Chinese. This is all part of the $22.2 million per year lease engineered by Panamanian President Ernesto "Toro" Balladares behind the backs of American companies…."
World Tribune.com 8/19/99 G Russell Evan "…On the Atlantic side at Cristobal, also controlled by Hutchison, dozens of ships routinely await clearance. After the Canal surrender date of Dec. 31, Hutchison has authority under Panama Law No. 5 to use its own pilots and, with its "port priority," can certainly control "head of line" on a day-to-day basis. Through Hutchison, China has in effect "established a strategic beachhead in Panama," Delgaudio's group concluded in their report (available care of the National Security Center, 10560 Main St., #217, Fairfax, Va 22030). Members of the group included Al Santoli, an aide to U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrbacher, California Republican, James Doran of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Michael Waller, vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council…."
Insight Magazine 8/20/99 J Michael Waller "…Control of ports on both sides of the Panama Canal by a Chinese shipping company tied to the People's Liberation Army, or PLA, poses no security threat to the United States, the Clinton administration has insisted in coordinated statements by the State Department, the Pentagon and the White House. But congressional Republicans aren't buying that story. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott sent Insight's report, "China's Beachhead at Panama Canal," to Defense Secretary William Cohen, calling the article "very disturbing" and asking for his response. Some on Capitol Hill are starting to ask whether the Clinton administration, as part of a suspected policy of relaxing vigilance toward China as a result of campaign contributions, has allowed Beijing to dominate the Panama Canal.. The administration won't acknowledge the relationship between the controversial company, shipping giant Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., and the PLA, even though the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee investigating Beijing's alleged covert funding of the 1996 Clinton-Gore reelection effort publicly established the connection two years ago. GOP concerns involve coincidences in the actions of key Clinton administration figures, including some appointments in, of all places, Panama, at the same time the Panamanian leadership was cutting deals with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. The suspicions tie in to similar associations of other administration officials in Washington during the Chinese campaign-funding scandal. One of the concerns is possible politicization of the Panama Canal Commission, the U.S.-Panamanian agency running the waterway. President Clinton appointed Undersecretary of the Army Joe Reeder, who had no expertise on Panama or maritime issues, to head the normally nonpolitical commission consisting of five Americans and four Panamanians. Reeder was an old friend and law-firm colleague of the late Democratic National Committee chief and Commerce Department secretary Ron Brown, a central figure in the China campaign controversy. In March 1996, with Hutchison Whampoa poised to establish its beachhead, Reeder accompanied Brown on a trade mission to Panama. In 1998, Clinton appointed former Florida Democratic Party chief Simon X. Ferro as ambassador to Panama. Ferro, who assumed his post in February, is suspected to have received the position as a reward for securing the ill-fated nomination of first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's brother, Hugh Rodham, as Florida's Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1994…Clinton appointed longtime crony and former White House chief of staff Thomas "Mack" McClarty as special envoy to the Western Hemisphere, even though he had no experience in Latin America. A source with business in Panama tells Insight that McClarty has "spent a lot of time in Panama smoothing the waters for a lot of these activities going on" with Chinese companies and has built strong relations with Panama's secretive banking community. Another White House fixture in Panama is Clinton political strategist James Carville, who in 1997 advised outgoing Panamanian President Ernesto Perez Balladares, who wanted to serve beyond his constitutional single five-year term. Balladares engineered the turnover of former U.S. facilities to Hutchison Whampoa. In his Aug. 1 letter to Cohen, Lott was blunt: "Bill, this administration is allowing a scenario to develop where U.S. national-security interests could not be protected without confronting the Chinese Communists in the Americas." He termed Hutchison Whampoa "an arm of the People's Liberation Army."…."
COSCO INFORMATION
WorldNetDaily.com 3/08/99 Joseph Farah "…For nearly two years, WorldNetDaily has alone as a news agency been hammering away at the strategic threat to the United States posed by China and the way the Clinton administration has ignored, if not encouraged, Beijing's active measures to subvert U.S. security. We began by revealing official chicanery involved in the effort to establish a U.S. mainland base for the China Overseas Shipping Co., a commercial front for Beijing's People's Liberation Army, in Long Beach, Calif. I wouldn't have bet a plug nickel on our Quixotic efforts to alert the American people to the dangers of such a move, let alone change established public policy. Yet, we succeeded -- at least in preventing the Long Beach port facility from falling into the hands of the Chinese military. There is still a real possibility, however, that the Port of Los Angeles or other U.S. strategically sensitive facilities could be offered to the Chinese as substitutes for Long Beach. COSCO is still very active in the U.S. and remains determined to find suitable bases for its shipping and spying activities on behalf of its military masters in Beijing. For anyone who doubts the military connection between this "commercial" entity, for which retired Gen. Alexander Haig sits on the board of advisers, you might want to study the accompanying photo. It shows a K3 nuclear attack submarine recently acquired by COSCO from Finland, no doubt via Russia, in transit to China…."
CNN Interactive (The Cold War) 2/99? Andy Walton "…Though Cold War defense spending has left the area, Cold War politics has not. Long Beach planned to lease the new container port to the China Overseas Shipping Company (COSCO), a freight company owned by the Chinese government that had outgrown its existing facilities. But the plan sparked controversy and attracted congressional attention. An amendment tacked onto the defense budget in September 1998 prohibited "any funding to be used to enter into or renew a contract with any company owned, or partially owned, by the People's Republic of China or the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China" -- a move many thought was directed at Long Beach. The end result is that the new container facility, when completed, will be used by other port tenants; COSCO will then use the areas those tenants vacate…."
WorldNetDaily 3/23/99 Charles Smith "…Li Ka-Shing owns the vast shipping enterprise, Hutchison Whampoa, Ltd. Li works closely with the official PRC shipping carrier, COSCO. Li and COSCO own both ends of the Panama Canal. Li and COSCO tried to buy the former Navy port at Long Beach. Li financed several satellite deals between Hughes and China Hong Kong Satellite (CHINASAT), a company half owned by the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA). Li Ka-Shing and the Chinese navy nearly obtained four huge roll-on/roll-off container ships, financed by loans backed by U.S. Treasury notes……"
WorldNetDaily 3/23/99 Charles Smith "…The bio of Li Ka-Shing was forced from the White House by this author during a lawsuit filed in federal court. The Commerce Department claimed the material was withheld for review by another "agency." In fact, the material was secretly sent by Commerce to the real authors, the White House, which is not an agency. The legal "Catch-22" situation was all too obvious to Commerce and White House lawyers who caved in rather than being made to look stupid in front of a Federal Judge……."
WorldNetDaily 3/23/99 Charles Smith "…The reason for the resistance becomes all too clear when Li Ka-Shing's bio is compared to the accompanying materials forced from the grips of the White House. Li was the only so-called "civilian." Li's bio was included by the White House along with the entire leadership of Communist China from Jiang Zemin to the mayor of Shanghai. The Long Beach affair demonstrated that Li Ka-Shing is an agent of Beijing. The White House material clearly shows that Mr. Li Ka-Shing is a member of the Communist government. The Long Beach deal led by Li Ka-Shing was clearly a national security threat. It was canceled after U.S. intelligence sources revealed that Li Ka-Shing's empire is used for PRC espionage. Li Ka-Shing provides fronts for Chinese military operations and "civilian" covers for PLA soldiers to enter the U.S. under "commercial" camouflage…."
Timothy W. Maier 4/1/99 "... Meanwhile, Insight has learned that Adm. Joseph Prueher, commander of the Pacific region, is lobbying hard to replace former Democratic senator James Sasser as U.S. Ambassador to China. But Prueher's name has stirred national-security passions on Capitol Hill where conservative Republicans are planning an all-out attack to prevent his nomination because of his reluctance to engage and resist the expanding claims of military hegemony by Communist China. Prueher failed to respond adequately last year to former House Rules Chairman Gerald Solomon's concern about the threat posed by the China Ocean Shipping Co., or COSCO, which so nearly took control of a longtime U.S. Navy port at Long Beach, Calif., and now controls bases at both ends of the Panama Canal. This did not sit well with many Republicans….."
WorldNetDaily 4/6/99 Charles Smith "…The real dirty war in Kosovo is fought with an AK-47 or SKS rifle at close range……Two benefactors from Clinton's dirty little war in Kosovo are Poly Technologies and NORINCO, both arms firms owned by Chinese Generals. Norinco SKS assault rifles currently grace the KLA forces operating inside Kosovo. NBC and CNN have shown KLA rebels, armed with Chinese SKS rifles and their distinctive, fixed, 10 round clip….. Poly Technologies was busted in 1996 by U.S. Customs agents posing as drug dealers trying to buy a couple of AK-47s. The customs raid netted over 2,000 fully automatic AK-47s, hand grenades, anti-tank rockets and shoulder fired surface-to-air (SAM) missiles. The Chinese arsenal was hidden in a cargo container freshly unloaded from a COSCO (China Ocean Shipping Company) ship, docked in Los Angeles. The Poly Tech workers have all been released by the inept Reno Dept. of Justice. Some fled the country and have returned to China. Following the fiasco, Clinton officials issued a statement, saying the arms were destined for "drug" dealers in the United States. Poly Tech is also known to Janet Reno for another reason. Charlie Trie and Poly Tech President Wang Jun met with Commerce Secretary Ron Brown after donating over $50,000 to the DNC. In fact, Poly Tech President Wang Jun met with Ms. General Reno's boss, Mr. Clinton, inside the White House just after that donation through Trie and Brown….."
Insight 5/17/99 Timothy Maier "...It didn't set well with COSCO when it lost out on the former U.S. Navy base in Long Beach, Calif., last year because an alerted Congress tucked legislation into an appropriations bill prohibiting such a takeover.. But Beijing now may have an opportunity to slip through the back door while Congress is focused on the Kosovo crisis. ...Insight has learned that COSCO could end up with its port, anyway, once another company takes over the old Long Beach Naval Station and port facility. If that fails, COSCO has set its sights on a base in Los Angeles, which is only too eager to do business with the comrades. Supporters of COSCO -- such as "honorary adviser" and former secretary of state Al Haig and a host of Long Beach and Los Angeles officials -- claim it is no threat, noting it has been operating in the port for 15 years, sharing facilities as it has done in New York and Miami........ . . . Sen. James M. Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, has described the PLA's shipping arm this way: "COSCO is not a benign private commercial enterprise. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of China's People's Liberation Army. It serves as the merchant marine of the Chinese military, and there is every reason to believe it will do their bidding in terms of smuggling, intelligence-gathering and weapons shipments. Considering China's long-term ambitions for superpower status in the next century, it would be foolish for America to surrender control of a strategically located West Coast port to an arm of the Chinese military." .
Insight 5/17/99 Timothy Maier "...Just how foolish? Here's a snapshot of COSCO's history of activity in U.S. ports. In 1992 the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission fined COSCO $400,000 for paying kickbacks. In 1993 a COSCO ship was caught transporting 87 pounds of heroin. In 1996, a Justice Department sting operation exposed an attempt to sell 2,000 AK-47s to California street gangs, with the promise of delivering missiles to knock a 747 airliner out of the sky..... President Clinton has no plans to thwart this Communist China priority. In fact, the Clinton administration has done just the opposite..., the White House pressured preservation officials in the Navy, State Department and local government to abandon efforts to preserve the historic buildings at the naval station......But why would Clinton have a personal interest in COSCO? That was never fully understood -- until now. Enter Johnny Chung, friend of the president......"
Insight 5/17/99 Timothy Maier "...As the money rolled in, the White House aggressively began to pursue COSCO's project, finding itself in the "unusual" role of making telephone calls to Long Beach officials. Chung began dropping money to the DNC in 1994, the very year the Clinton administration closed the base. By March 1995 Chung is dropping big bucks --$50,000 a pop -- and the Marines suddenly found themselves evicted from Long Beach Naval Station. Soon the White House was pressuring Long Beach to cut a deal with COSCO, with Dorothy Robyn, a member of the Economic Council, calling local preservation officials to discourage efforts to save buildings at the base and allow them to be razed quickly. At the same time federal institutions interested in using the base, such as the Marines and the Federal Maritime Commission, were turned away because Clinton wanted to give it to Long Beach with the understanding it would be handed to the Chinese....Unless Congress stops it, the PLA will hit the beach on U.S. soil with a facility so large and protected that it will be impossible for U.S. Customs to monitor the contents of the huge cargo containers moving in and out from China or the possible clandestine activities that such a base would afford the People's Liberation Army...."
Investor's Business Daily 5/19/99 John Berlau "...The road from Beijing to the White House appears to take many detours through Arkansas. It was there, as attorney general and governor, that Bill Clinton met Indonesian businessmen Mochtar and James Riady and restaurant owner Charlie Trie, key figures linked to the Chinagate scandals. But more recently, another possible connection has emerged - through the $7.5 billion Arkansas Teacher Retirement System. In the past few years, the ATRS has invested in companies linked to Chinese intelligence.... At least four companies the ATRS has invested in - the China Ocean Shipping Co. (Cosco), China North Industries (Norinco), China Resources Enterprises and China Travel - ''historically and currently have been used by Chinese military intelligence,'' Timperlake said..... A year earlier, a Cosco ship was caught smuggling 2,000 automatic weapons destined for Los Angeles gang members into the port of Oakland, Calif. Even so, according to the American Spectator, ATRS added $500,000 in Cosco shares after the ship's capture. The Washington Times has reported that Cosco also delivered nuclear weapons components to Pakistan and Iran..... Norinco. The ATRS has also invested at least $334,000 in Norinco, the company that made the automatic weapons that were seized in Oakland. One month after Norinco officials were arrested, one of Norinco's partners attended a coffee at the White House..... Pension fund documents obtained by Investor's Business Daily show that in 1997, the ATRS invested at least $748,000 in China Resources and held shares in China Travel. Both companies are used as cover for spying operations, China experts say. In his book ''Chinese Intelligence Operations'' (Newcomb Publishing, 1998), Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Nicholas Eftimiades wrote that at least one vice president of China Resources is typically a military officer who ''coordinates the collection activities of other intelligence personnel under (the company's) cover.'' Former Arkansas State Auditor Julia Hughes Jones recalls that in 1993, Charlie Trie gave her the card of a woman who headed China Travel in Beijing. Jones says she found it odd that Trie wanted her to use China Travel for official Arkansas business inside the U.S. Jones said she now believes Trie -whose trial started this week - was promoting China Travel because he was ''trying to get in good with the (Chinese) military.' Both companies are also partners of the Riadys in various China ventures...."
Softwar.com 5/25/99 "...According to the report, Poly Tech took advantage of Clinton's 1994 executive order banning assault weapons, including a ban on gun imports from the Chinese Army. "Loopholes allowed importers to bend the rules," states the report. "Specifically, Congress exempted weapons in transit post hoc. The U.S. Treasury initially estimated this exemption would cover 12,000 weapons, but importers actually brought in 440,000." In 1994, President Clinton and the Democrat controlled Congress gave the PLA their greatest gun sales spree in America with a "loophole." Poly Tech officials crammed Chinese flag carrier (COSCO) ships bound for America with every weapon they could scrape from their massive inventory, selling them at inflated prices brought by Clinton's ban. In a single stroke of Clinton's pen, the PLA made over $100 million in wind-fall profits...."
Softwar.com 5/25/99 "...Poly Tech was founded in 1985 as a subsidiary of China's powerful central bank, CITIC (China International Trust and Investment Corporation). In 1996, the Chinese HQ of Poly Technologies was run by Wang Jun and his "princeling" friend, the powerful He Ping, son-in-law of Deng Xiaoping. Wang was not only Poly Tech CEO but also a Director of CITIC. Thus, the PLA "commercial" arms outlet Poly Tech also provided CITIC credit to customers. The curious mix of communism, capitalism and corruption ended in August, 1996, when Poly Tech's U.S. operations were closed by a U.S. Customs sting operation. Allegedly, Poly Tech's man in America, Robert Ma, conspired with China North Industries (NORINCO) representative, Richard Chen, to import 2,000 fully automatic AK-47s into the United States to Customs Agents posing as Miami drug smugglers...."
Washington Weekly 11/17/97 "...With Bill Clinton elected president and John Huang placed with a top secret clearance (without examination) in the Commerce Department, the Chinese got what they wanted: unlimited access to the military, civilian and dual-use technology that had been denied them during Republican administrations: (*) F-16 fighter jets (*) Cray supercomputers for weapons development (*) Machine tools for cruise missile construction (*) Global Positioning System technology for missile guidance (*) Satellites and satellite technology (*) The entire U.S. Patent database. (*) Nuclear Power plants John Huang used his top secret clearance to gain access to classified U.S. military and industrial secrets on encryption technology and its relationship to intelligence gathering and software marketing across the world. He then took the documents across the street, to an office run by Riady partner Stephens' of Little Rock, where he dropped the documents so they could be collected by Chinese intelligence. And when Chinese military and intelligence wanted a foothold in America, President Clinton personally met twice with Long Beach officials to push through a deal to lease the former naval base to the Chinese COSCO front company on extremely favorable terms despite vocal national security concerns...."
In 1996, Sunbase Asia, Incorporated purchased Southwest Products Corporation, a California producer of ball bearings for U.S. military aircraft. Sunbase is incorporated in the United States, but is owned by an investment group comprised of some of the PRC's largest state-owned conglomerates as well as a Hong Kong company. According to a Southwest executive, the purchase will "take [Sunbase] to the next level" of technology. The Clinton administration has determined that additional information on this transaction cannot be made public....Other information indicates COSCO is far from benign. In 1996, U.S. Customs agents confiscated over 2,000 assault rifles that were being smuggled into the United States aboard COSCO ships. "Although presented as a commercial entity," according to the House Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, "COSCO is actually an arm of the Chines military establishment." The Clinton administration has determined that additional information concerning COSCO that appears in the Select Committee's classified Final Report cannot be made public....
6/11/99 Linda A. Prussen-Razzano RightMagazine "...The Navy's primary concern is Fleet readiness. Fleet readiness is typically measured in the amount of fully equipped, fully trained Battle Groups (BG) available in a specific part of the world, in direct proportion to a perceived threat.....In 1993, the Navy's BA (Basic Allowance) for manning a BG was 95%; it was subsequently reduced to 93%. By 1997, it was reduced again to 90%. Despite the forced decline in mandated Status of Readiness and Training System (SORTS) standards, the actual manpower afloat "among junior enlisted (E-1 to E-3) general detail (GENDET) personnel" averages 86%. "Navy wide we are short approximately 6,000 GENDETS." (Statement of Vice Admiral Herbert A. Browne, Jr, II Commander, Third Fleet, Before the Readiness, Personnel, and Milcon Subcommittee of the House National Security Committee on Fleet Readiness, September 25, 1998)....."Onboard USS SHILOH (CG-67) (a LINCOLN BG Cruiser) during the 1995 deployment, there were ten Aegis fire control technicians with job specialty designators 1119, now there are six. E-3 and below manning on the SHILOH is at 61%." (Vice Admiral Herbert A. Browne, Jr., II Commander, September 25, 1998).....Let us remember, in 1996 the President gave COSCO a $137 million "nonrecourse" loan to build 5 new ships, but our Navy has to maintain aging or obsolesced equipment because it's "better than nothing." ....."
Freeper Jolly reports on Reuters; American Investigator 4/15/99; 04/97 Jennifer Genevieve; China By Any Other "...Wang Jun and Li Ka Shing always seem to end up on top. Here is an interesting article show who stands to benifit the most when Chian gets WTO...China's entry into the World Trade Organisation may not be a done deal yet but investors in the Hong Kong stock market are already looking forward to the gains that lie ahead, particularly for ports and telecoms firms.... The question for investors is now ``when'' rather than ``if,'' analysts said. .....Goldman Sachs is predicting a jump in China trade flows to US$600 billion in five years from US$324 billion in 1998. ``Obvious beneficiaries are exporters and port companies,'' it said in a recent research report. ....Targeting that growth, analysts have singled out COSCO Pacific Ltd , China Merchants Holdings (International) Co Ltd , Wharf (Holdings) Ltd and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd as the main beneficiaries....China-backed banks such as CITIC Ka Wah Bank Ltd and Union Bank of Hong Kong Ltd would benefit through joint ventures with financial service subsidiaries of their China shareholders, DBS said in a report. ``Union Bank and CITIC Ka Wah are likely to accelerate their merger plans with their mainland sister banks,'' it added...."
Softwar.com 5/25/99 "...Feinstein's financial ties to the communist Chinese and COSCO include her husband, Richard Blum. Blum is reported to be heavily tied to the PRC through his far east investment firm, Newbridge Capitol Corp. Blum's partner at Newbridge, Peter Kwok, also served as a consultant to COSCO, and COSCO Hong Kong Holdings, a company owned by Chinese billionaire Li Ka-Shing. In 1989, Kwok helped CITIC and Li Ka-Shing raise $120 million to buy a HUGHES built communications satellite for a company also part owned by Chinese Generals. Senator Feinstein is far closer to red China than a few business ties to her husband. The Los Angles Times reported in 1997 that Blum and Feinstein have visited with communist Chinese officials three times. Blum reportedly accompanied the Senator at his own expense and met with President Jiang Zemin and other top communist party officials. In January 1996, Feinstein and Blum were honored as the first foreigners to stay at Mao Tse-tung's former residence…."
Softwar.com 5/25/99 "...One Feinstein document that screams out for further investigation is a letter dated Nov. 1, 1994, from a million dollar Democratic donor to President Clinton. Investment banker and Democratic fund-raiser Sanford R. Robertson wrote a "thank you" note to Clinton for a Ron Brown trade mission to China. Robertson complimented Brown's "diplomatic skills" in a meeting with Chinese dictator Li Peng. Robertson wrote that Secretary Brown "deftly navigated the human-rights issues by obtaining an agreement on further talks and then moved directly into the economic issues at hand: helping Chrysler, Sprint and others with their 'joint ventures.'" The Robertson letter closes with a smoking-gun postscript: "(Treasury Secretary) Bob Rubin came to our home on Thursday for a Dianne Feinstein dinner, which raised over $100,000 for her campaign. Bob, of course, turned out the financial community and Silicon Valley." The honorable Senator Feinstein was never asked by her colleagues on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee investigating the China connection about Robertson, her husband or the returned $12,000. There has never been any investigation of COSCO or Poly Tech. Bill Clinton has never answered detailed questions on Ron Brown, Wang Jun, Charlie Trie and John Huang. ..."
Freeper abwehr updates on 6/3/99 "...I am still trying to find out what happened to the Dragonfire prosecutions. Perhaps Ed and Bill could help. Hammond Ku, so far as I've been able to tell, has NEVER been sentenced. His sister Linda Huang had the charges against her dropped. A dozen others get indicted and the cases, along with the US Attorney who indicted them just vanish? This week I asked Reynolds Holding the San Francisco Chronicle reporter if he knew. He said he hasn't followed the story! Well why not. Peter Tran and Curtis Debord got prosecuted and big time for their role in this scheme. But they were bringing weapons in from Vietnam but they were small fry partners of Hammond Ku and Robert Ma. Dai Xaiomin ( a major Riady partner) shows up at a June dinner at Dianne Feinsteins house with the President, John Huang and that Filipina girl who was asked to donate her $50,000 to the TEAMSTERS boss Ron Carey's reelection. Dick Blum says he personally collected all the money except later remembers he didn't get the $50,000 from Dai. He said DNC Finance boss Richard Sullivan got that. Sullivan says no way. Where did it go? Then there are the cases of Chong Lo and George Chu. I followed these but like so much of this treason/DNC finance stuff it flares up then disappears into the maw of the PRC or Reno's DoJ. Maeley Tom gets hired by Cassidy Associates, travels with Ron Brown to Indonesia, gets appointed to the executive committee of the DNC where she writes Clinton for John Huang to be given his job at Commerce and another Lippo exec, Charles DeQueljoe to get a post at the NSA ( mercifully denied) yet Tom is never called before Congress, is ignored in the Cox report and only Charles Smith and I pay her any attention. Pretty discouraging...."
Freeper abwehr updates on 6/3/99 "...Michael Yamaguchi, the US Attorney who indicted the Dragonfire defendants and then was nominated for a federal judicial appointment by Feinstein, which for some very strange reasons he declined, negotiated a plea bargain with Ku, dropped all charges against his sister then resigned as US Attorney. He has since become, in the best Soviet tradition a non entity. Searching the Chronicle and Examiner the last reference to Michael Yamaguchi, who at one time was like Rudi Giuliani and other major metropolitan area US Attorneys, a news celebrity, was a reference to him as a real dud. It seems that he was such a dud, despite his many years as US Attorney in San Francisco that Barbara Boxer has recommended that the ACTING US Attorney, a guy named Mueller, be nominated by Clinton for the permanent position. What's bizarre about this? Muellar is a REPUBLICAN, big time. Now why would Boxer, the Clinton inlaw and noted practioner of bipartisan politics, give such a plum patronage post to a GOPer? She sure moved with alacrity to sabotage Charles LaBella's promised post as US Attorney for the Southern District of California....."
Severnside adds 6/3/99 "...[second hand story but all I have] Regarding Dragonfire, very good reporter told me that US Attorney in SF claims one of the stories [NYT or LAT] was word for word what he had briefed to the State Dept. What seems to have sent them over the edge and forced them to shut down is when David Sanger of the NYT arrived on the scene. If you check the Chinagate stories of fall 1996, you will see he is not on the side of the Cause. My working theory [based on not much knowledge] is that SOMEBODY didn't want that case going the distance. If you read the major documents, you'll see that the perps claim the PRC government was behind all of it. Recall we're talking about the spring of 1996 when a lot was going on...."
WorldNetDaily 3/23/99 Charles Smith "…In 1994, "American" businessman K.S. Wu traveled with Ron Brown to Comunist China. Today, Mr. Wu is reported to be dead, and no one in the Democratic Party (Democratic National Committee) wants to talk about him….Wu actually worked for Chinese billionaire Li Ka-Shing. According to documents provided by the Commerce Department, Wu, Lupberger, Caperton and Brown met with PRC billionaire Li Ka-Shing in Beijing during the 1994 trip.K.S. Wu, CEO of a so-called "American" firm, traveled at the expense of the U.S. taxpayers, to meet his Chinese boss Li Ka-Shing….In 1995, Mr. K.S. Wu of Pacific Century -- a company owned by Li Ka-Shing, teamed with Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia to provide Red China with an airbase only 50 miles from downtown Washington, D.C. According to a January 1996 speech by Gov. Caperton on the Democrats' website, "Mr. Wu was a trusted adviser to Sen. Rockefeller and me. He was instrumental in helping Senator Rockefeller develop the Swearingen aircraft project. He was also extremely helpful in expanding our relationships with China and Japan. We extend to his family our deepest respect and sympathy. His death is a deep loss to West Virginia." …"
WorldNetDaily 3/23/99 Charles Smith "…Today, Sen. Rockefeller will not comment on either the departed Mr. Wu, or the Li Ka-Shing airbase at Martinsburg, West Virginia. The Jan. 1996 speech by Governor Caperton published on the Democrats' website was removed from the Internet immediately after I submitted a fax copy to Sen. Rockefeller's office in Washington, D.C. Yet, in 1996, Sen. Rockefeller led a delegation of Asian investors to Martinsburg, West Virginia. According to Gov. Caperton, K.S. Wu was instrumental in helping Rockefeller bring the Asian investors to West Virginia…...The Sino-Swearingen plant in West Virginia is a joint project between Texas based Swearingen aircraft, the AFL-CIO, and Sino-Aerospace Investment Corporation…. In 1996, Jay Rockefeller had very close ties to the real money behind the Sino-Swearingen aerospace deal, Li Ka-Shing. Li Ka-Shing is also a known PLA operative. Today, Asian "engineers" roam the hills of West Virginia with a "commercial" cover. The perfect location, complete with jets to test fly and a huge facility constructed to order was paid for by American and Chinese taxpayers…."
WorldNetDaily 3/23/99 Charles Smith "…Softwar has obtained an exclusive interview with former GRU Colonel Stanislav Lunev. Col. Lunev is the highest-ranking member of the former Soviet Union intelligence services to defect to America. He is, to this day, surrounded by FBI agents for his protection. In 1999, I presented the K.S. Wu information to Colonel Lunev for his evaluation. According to Col. Lunev, Russian and Chinese army operatives in the U.S. have created large stockpiles of arms for use in time of war. These communist weapon caches are reportedly hidden all over America. According to Lunev, the Chinese and Russian weapon stockpiles include explosives, nerve gas, anthrax and as many as
120 "suitcase" nuclear bombs! I have confirmed Colonel Lunev's story with several members of Congress. Red China and Russia have pre-positioned nuclear, chemical and biological weapons on American soil with the intent of destroying our nation. President Clinton and Congress are aware that China and Russia have smuggled nuclear bombs into the United States…."WorldNetDaily 3/30/99 Charles Smith "…General Ding and the PLA also passed money directly to Clinton through various agents such as Johnny Chung and Charlie Trie. In exchange, the PRC warlords got access to U.S. secrets other than W88 nuclear bombs. For example, Lt. General Shen's son, Shen Jun, was the lead software engineer for Hughes on all Chinese satellites. Loral provided the PLA with radiation-hardened encrypted telemetry control systems such as the missing board of chips from the 1996 Intelsat crash. In fact, according to the State Department, Loral satellite CDMA communications technology was preferred by the PLA. According to a 1996 Department of State cable to President Clinton by Beijing Ambassador Sasser, the PLA was using money from Chinese billionaire Li Ka-Shing to finance Chinese army communications systems….."
WorldNetDaily 5/4/99 Charles Smith "... Iridium is not the only venture that Great Wall shares with Motorola. Great Wall has joined with Chinese billionaire Li Ka-Shing and Motorola to provide CDMA mobile phone networks to China. American CDMA technology, according to several documents from the Commerce Dept. and the State Dept., is the preferred cell phone of the Chinese Army signals branch. "CDMA or Code Division Multiple Access, is an advanced technology that permits high-volume communications in a small area, with limited interference from other traffic. It was originally designed for military communications applications in rear areas. Motorola will deploy 30 of its SC2450 base stations and an EMX 2500 E large capacity switch for the CDMA network"…."
WorldNetDaily 5/4/99 Charles Smith "... In Feb. 1999, the Clinton China-Gate scandal shot-down $500 million worth of satellites for the Chinese Army. APMT, the reported buyer of the Hughes satellites, is half owned by COSTIND, the same Chinese Army led by General Ding in 1995..... According to another Commerce document, PLA profits are split between the PLA local unit and the General Logistics Division (GLD) of the Chinese Central Command. "Some of the money is used for training, as well as to improve the living standards of the troops, including barracks construction and repair... other funds are used for more corrupt purposes, such as paying for lavish meals, expensive foreign luxury automobiles, and Swiss bank accounts". Some of the money from the PLA also made it into the DNC and Clinton's campaign bank account. Clinton took their money. Clinton turned a blind eye while American nuclear weapon secrets were stolen. Clinton knows the trade imbalance is filling the pockets of corrupt red warlords and financing the Chinese Army. Clinton sold the Chinese Army a vast array of technology, the weapons of nuclear war that now target America. ...."
The Washington Times 5/26/99 August Gribbin ".... On 24 different occasions, the report declares: "The Clinton administration has determined further information cannot be made public." Nonetheless, the report makes clear that information losses in the last seven years have been massive. ….In just one 1996-97 operation, the U.S. Customs Service seized $36 million in "excess military property" that was being shipped to China illegally. Included were: Thirty-seven inertial navigation systems for the U.S. F-117 and FB-111 aircraft. Thousands of computers and computer disks containing classified "top secret" information. Patriot missile parts. Five hundred electron tubes used in the U.S. F-14 fighter. Tank and howitzer parts. Twenty-six thousand encryption devices..... Often this equipment was purchased as 'scrap,' for which the buyers paid pennies on the dollar." As an example, the report mentions that the Chinese obtained a "multi-axis machine tool profiler." The device is used for designing wing spans for the F-14 fighter. The original cost was $3 million. China got the device for $25,000. The select committee found that in the "mid-1990s" a Chinese company obtained U.S. defense manufacturing technology for jet aircraft. It didn't bother to try for the necessary export license and lied about the contents of the shipping containers that passed customs and reached the PRC. However, the committee noted again, "The Clinton administration has determined that further information on this case cannot be made public." ..."
Freeper Rhammm 6/1/99 "...From the COX REPORT, I fould 12 sections that the Clinton administration has determined that further information cannot be made public. We can only guess. ....The Select Committee reviewed evidence from the mid-1990s of a PRC company that obtained U.S. defense manufacturing technology for jet aircraft, knowingly failed to obtain a required export license, and misrepresented the contents of its shipping containers in order to get the technology out of the country. The Clinton administration has determined that further information on this case cannot be made public....The PRC will not permit any end-use verification of a U.S. HPC at any time after the first six months of the computer's arrival in the PRC The Select Committee has reviewed the terms of the U.S.-PRC agreement and found them wholly inadequate. The Clinton administration has, however, advised the Select Committee that the PRC would object to making the terms of the agreement public. As a result, the Clinton administration has determined that no further description of the agreement may be included in this report...."
FoxNews 3/17/99 Crier report interviews Timperlake author of Year of the Rat – Freeper Jobim reports "…Why did Clinton sell out? For the money. A quest for power. Then you need to cover your tracks. Riadys had John Huang working with them for a long time. Riady $ was to get Huang in the government. Hubbell was at ground zero in the entire conspiracy. Huang got clearance 5 &1/2 months before he showed up for work. Huang received documents that were stamped: COULD LEAD TO HANDLERS DEATH. 1996 - Clinton needed money. Loral sends committee over to help the Chinese. Berger gave Loral a get-out-of-jail-free card. 20 missiles have ready capability to go to 200 with miniature nuke tips…." "…Bob McMillan: "unorthodox procedures" allowed China to take control of both Panama Canal ports. Chinese investments are continuing to grow in Panama. 12/31 are troops are gone and 80% of Panamanians want us there. Why?…"
FoxNews 3/17/99 Crier report interviews Timperlake author of Year of the Rat – Freeper ohmlaw98 reports "..Hubbell at center...Enter Riady hush money Huang ....no record of actual birth date.....39 cia biefings.....109 meetings with CI...."Release to unauthorized source could result in death" Huang...$5.00 charged to US taxpayer from residence in PRC Pass secrets to Lippo through Stevens & co. after briefings with CI Loral..donations total 2.2 million severe opposition for justice... "get out of jail free " W-88 space launch vehicle 200 thermnuclear devices in near future... severe deterrence problems and proliferation problems with China in near future.....Timperlake served on Rules Committee investigation team with Solomon..Johnny Chung....Background identification? [B R E A K] Robert McMillan..Panama Canal control by China/PLA via Riady....Johnny Chung brought individuals from China..Liu Chioying....Marswell...300,000...been to spy schools....Triplett co-author....Have 2 ports at each end due to unorthodox procedures by Ambassador ?....Liu involved in Panama deal for $22,000,000...McMillan...Clinton "absolutely asleep" negotiating the continuation of troops in panama 80% of citizens in Panama wanted US Troops to remain.....Timperlake.....Arms running.....Administration has not invoked any proliferation laws....N Korea & China sharing "overheads" with missle tech. Chinese military curve accelerating upward on Clinton's watch..He took the money and said I don't care...."
Salon 6/21/99 David Horowitz "...In 1996, to pick an illustrative example, the Long Beach (Calif.) City Council granted a lease on the demobilized Long Beach Naval Station to a Chinese company named COSCO, which is little more than the naval arm of the Chinese communist army and is a major arms supplier to dictators and terrorists. Its cargoes have included rocket fuel for Pakistan, helping to destabilize the Indian peninsula; and nuclear components for Iran, a volatile factor in the Middle East. In 1996 a COSCO ship was seized in Oakland, Calif., by U.S. Customs agents who discovered a cargo of 2,000 assault weapons intended for sale to Los Angeles street gangs. Why would the Long Beach City Council approve a lease to such a company, particularly if the relevant oversight officials in Washington had alerted them to the nature of the COSCO enterprise? Because the relevant oversight officials in Washington did not alert Long Beach to the danger posed by COSCO. On the contrary, they encouraged the deal..... On the eve of the 1996 elections, a White House official named Dorothy Robyn made a conference call to the Long Beach City Council and applied direct pressure on them to push the deal with COSCO through. Robyn told the Council that the "national interest would best be served if the [COSCO] plan proceeds." The chief competitor for the lease, whose application was denied by White House pressure, was the U.S. Marine Corps. ...."
House of Representatives 4/15/97 Rep Cunningham "...Mr. Speaker, there is a current report, an updated report from the FBI, that states that Cosco is currently actively involved in placing intelligence officers, spies, in all of their ports of call. That is a national security interest....We cannot discuss the actual details of that intelligence briefing as it would not be prudent and it was a classified briefing. But I want to mention that two of the representatives that represent, and I understand their needs, they represent the people that are looking for jobs, one of those individuals stated that, and I quote, `All intelligence agencies that briefed us have assured us that Cosco represents no threat to our national security.' I want to tell you, Mr. Speaker, it is an untruth, the fact that the same intelligence briefers, the CIA, the National Security, the Coast Guard, have all stated that no such comment was ever made and ever intended. And as a matter of fact, they were very, very upset at the dear colleague press release. Why? Because they stated that this is a policy issue for them to discuss, and they would never say that there is a national security interest, nor would they say that there is not. So I would submit that is not the case and that after careful deliberation of experience that there is a national security interest...."
House of Representatives 4/15/97 Rep Cunningham "...According to the New York Times, Chinese officials had conveyed an ominous message to Anthony Lake, President Clinton's national security adviser, just weeks earlier: `The possibility that American interference in Beijing efforts to bring Taipei to heel could result in devastating attack on Los Angeles.' [Page: H1535] [TIME: 2245] San Diego Union Tribune, March 31, 1996..."
House of Representatives 4/15/97 Rep Cunningham "...A Justice Department investigation into improper political fundraising activities has uncovered evidence that representatives of the People's Republic of China sought direct contributions from foreign sources to the DNC, the Democratic National Committee, before the 1996 Presidential election. Mr. Speaker, our intelligence--the FBI and CIA--warned Janet Reno directly that China was attempting to influence the White House in policy decisions through campaign finance reports, much like they did in the port that we just talked about, by giving cash donations. The Justice Department task force has discovered that in early 1995, Chinese representatives developed a plan to spend nearly $2 million to buy influence in Congress, this body, and the Clinton administration, and investigators are apparently trying to determine if any of that money was received by John Huang, Charlie Trie, among others. So the FBI has given us warning and the CIA that the Chinese are trying to influence our Government to make decisions in their favor. And then the Clinton administration gives them a $50 million coal burning plant, gives them a $127 to $137 million loan to build Chinese Communist ships. Then they give them access to Long Beach Naval Shipyard and complete control of it. We think that there is a direct problem...."
House of Representatives 4/15/97 Rep Cunningham "...I feel it is very important that we bring up another subject. That is the subjugation of the United States by a Communist-owned company, and control of. What I would like to do tonight is talk on the facts. Those facts are based on when I served in the U.S. Navy, I served on 7th Fleet staff and was responsible for all Southeast Asia countries, the defense of, not only in the training exercises, but in the real world threat.... Cosco is a Communist-owned, Communist Chinese-owned company. Its purpose is ship containers in and out of major ports all over the world..... What I plan to show tonight is a direct link between the White House fundraising with China and assets that have gone in favor of Communist China that could pose as a national security threat to the United States. I have intelligence reports that state so. I have facts that also state so, and I would like to make that case this evening....."
House of Representatives 4/15/97 Rep Cunningham "...Last year, it was Cosco that delivered to the State of California 2,000 AK-47's. The company that builds the AK-47's, the company that negotiates the trade of AK-47's around the world, the company Cosco, all set up by the PRC, the People's Republic of China, owns. They do not report to department heads. Their CEO is Communist China, all owned and coordinated and controlled by Communist China. Yet, they delivered over 2,000 AK-47's into our country, with the intent of selling these arms to our inner cities to disrupt, to disrupt our inner cities, and disrupt our political environment within the United States of America. At the same time, the Clinton White House accepted both Cosco and the gunrunners themselves in a White House coffee..."
House of Representatives 4/15/97 Rep Cunningham "...Long Beach Naval Shipyard, the marines lost a bid for the site to a China Cosco firm, and I quote from the Washington Times: Several officers in the Marine Corps have raised questions about why the Clinton administration favored turning over a military base in Long Beach, CA to the Chinese ocean shipping company, Cosco, over the protest of marine reserve battalion made homeless by the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Briefings on the firm fail to convince many of its members. The CIA, the Office of Naval Intelligence, and the Coast Guard reinforced the view that Cosco's strong link with the Chinese Government is a fatal flaw in its proposal to deliver the base to a company.... "
House of Representatives 4/15/97 Rep Cunningham "...Johnny Chung, a Chinese American businessman from California, gave $366,000 to the Democrats, the DNC, that was later returned on suspicion it illegally came from foreign sources. Chung brought 6 Chinese officials to the White House last year to watch President Clinton make his weekly radio address. One of the 6 was the advisor from COSCO who was later given by the President access to Long Beach shipyard and also the actual gun runners that were there in the White House gave money to the DNC. The chairman of one of these two Chinese arms companies implicated in the scheme to smuggle the 2,000 illegal Chinese-made weapons into Oakland aboard COSCO's ship had coffee in the White House in an affair associated with D.C. fundraising. Officials of the weapons company were indicted for shipping those arms...."
House of Representatives 4/15/97 Rep Cunningham "...On the campaign trail last year and in a White House meeting in 1995, President Clinton endorsed the proposal to transfer land of the Long Beach Naval shipyard to COSCO, but it was this March, 1995, the White House radio address that had critics talking. A COSCO advisor was among the Chinese businessmen invited to hear the President in the oval office just two days after a California businessman, Johnny Chung, made a $50,000 donation to the DNC and hand-delivered it to Mrs. Clinton's chief of staff Margaret Williams, CBS Evening News, March 11, 1997...."
House of Representatives 4/15/97 Rep Cunningham "...Shortly after the Long Beach Naval shipyard land transfer was arranged, the Clinton administration helped arrange, listen to this, Mr. Speaker, in the President's budget that he submitted, he gave free, no strings, gave to Communist China $50 million to burn a coal burning plant, after these meetings and after these DNC fund-raisers from the Chinese. He can cut impact aid for education, but he can also give $50 million to Communist China in the name of trade and just give it. That is not fair trade...."
House of Representatives 4/15/97 Rep Cunningham "...He also gave a multimillion dollar loan to build 5 Communist Chinese ships, COSCO ships, in a nonrecourse loan. What that means, Mr. Speaker, this is a loan of some $137 million, which may not be much to many Members around this body, but you ask the American people, $137 million of their taxpayers' dollars back up a nonrecourse loan to Communist China, a state-controlled company by Communist China, and if they forfeit, who is left holding the bag? The United States taxpayers. Our own ship builders do not have access to this type of loan, Mr. Speaker. Incredible. But yet the administration gives Communist China.... "
House of Representatives 4/15/97 Rep Cunningham "...COSCO was fined for paying kickbacks to shippers instead of abiding by tariffs. This is, again, a Chinese-operated company that was cited for giving kickbacks, payoffs for access.... Mr. Speaker, President Clinton took a personal role in promoting the interests of COSCO. At the same time he was cutting over 100 warships from the U.S. fleet, drawn up by the Bush administration, a 23 percent cut. The symbolism could not be anymore stark. ...."