Clinton knew China's
Panama play in 1996
U.S. Embassy cabled warning:
Hutchison run by communists
By Charles Smith
� 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
Newly released federal documents show that the Clinton
administration was aware in 1996 that China was
attempting to gain control of the Panama Canal.
The U.S. Commerce Department recently released a July
1996 unclassified cable from the U.S. Embassy in
Panama. The cable accuses Beijing of funneling money
into Hutchison Whampoa, the company controlled by
controversial Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing.
Hutchison Whampoa currently operates the two ports on
the Panama Canal -- the Pacific port of Balboa and the
Atlantic port of Cristobal.
"Embassy Panama has received information to the effect
that HIT (Hutchison International Terminals) is controlled
by mainland Chinese, perhaps through a Macao front
which allegedly recently invested $400 million in HIT,"
states the cable. "Such control would have security
implications and might affect the Panamanian
government's views on awarding the port concessions."
Reacting to the information, Rep.
Bob Barr, R-Ga., a ranking
member on both the House
Judiciary and House Government
Reform Committees, sharply
criticized President Clinton for
ignoring the warnings about
Chinese control of the canal.
"This message proves serious
concerns about Chinese control of
the canal raised by the U.S.
Embassy in Panama in 1996 were
and remain completely ignored by
an administration that wants us to
believe all is well in Panama,"
stated Barr in an interview from his office inside Capitol
Hill.
"This latest piece of evidence is part of a systematic
pattern of deception about the dangers posed to American
and Panamanian national security by our unilateral
withdrawal from Panama," concluded Barr.
The newly released documents were forced from the U.S.
Commerce Department through the Freedom of
Information Act. Some of the documents found by the
Commerce Department have not been released and one
document is being forwarded to an unnamed agency.
The Commerce Department documents also show that
law enforcement agencies were very concerned about Li
Ka-Shing's connections to international smuggling. A 1995
cable from the American Embassy in Nassau noted that Li
Ka-Shing had signed an agreement to build an $88 million
container-ship terminal in the Grand Bahamas. The
document shows that the embassy in Nassau copied the
cable to several law enforcement agencies including the
Customs Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency.
"Reftel describes U.S. agencies' security concerns about
possible smuggling attempts through the terminal," states
the cable from the American Embassy. "Post will request
via septel assistance in addressing these concerns while
port development plans are still on the drawing board."
The documents the Commerce Department provided show
that the Clinton administration was aware in 1996 of the
$400 million investment into Li Ka-Shing's company by the
Chinese government.
The Commerce documents describe China Resources
Enterprises as "the investment arm of China's Foreign
Trade ministry." During the 1997 Senate Governmental
Affairs Committee hearings, however, Sen. Fred
Thompson, R-Tenn., described China Resources
Enterprises as "an agent of espionage -- economic, military
and political -- for China."
China Resources Enterprises has previously appeared in
congressional hearings involving illegal campaign donations
to the Clinton / Gore 1996 re-election and foreign
billionaires. According to Sen. Thompson, China
Resources Enterprises is linked to billionaire Moctar Riady
and the Lippo Group.
"Lippo group, run by the Riady family which employed
(John) Huang, had over the past few years become a
major business partner with China Resources, a trading
company wholly owned by the government of the People's
Republic of China, and which has reportedly served as an
intelligence-collection front for China," noted Sen.
Thompson during his summary on the China campaign
finance scandal.
Despite questions about illegal links to Beijing front
companies and international smuggling, the newly released
documents show that U.S. Commerce Secretary William
Daley, the newly appointed campaign chairman for Vice
President Al Gore's presidential bid, met with Li Ka-Shing
at a 1997 luncheon hosted by the powerful investment firm
Goldman Sachs.
The Commerce documents note that an informal "talk"
between Daley, Li and several "influential business people"
was held on the Goldman Sachs' boat Monkey's Uncle
during a 1997 Hong Kong trade trip. Included in the
meeting was Beijing-owned business CITIC, a firm
directly linked to arms smuggling.
The Commerce document states, "Goldman Sachs' boat
(Monkey's Uncle) will depart from the Causeway Bay
Typhoon Shelter at 11:30 a.m. The boat will sail near the
new airport site at Chek Lap Kok. Lunch will be served
onboard."
Even before the Monkey's Uncle meeting, cables from the
U.S. Embassy in Hong Kong asserted that Li is linked to
President Jiang Zemin of China through a real estate deal.
A 1996 cable also noted that Li had moved against
democratic business groups in Hong Kong.
"Li is reputed to have a
close business relationship
with key figures in Beijing,"
states the August 1999
cable from the American
Embassy in Hong Kong.
"And he has a number of
real estate and
infrastructure projects in the
mainland. These close
relationships were said to
be key to his obtaining the
prime site on Beijing's Wangfujing for his USD2 billion
Oriental Plaza Project. Some have suggested that it was
because of Li's mainland connections that the man behind
the 1996 kidnapping of his son Victor was arrested last
year in China and swiftly executed. Li is a leading member
of Hong Kong's ethnic Chinese business elite, a tycoon
who is no democrat. This fact is reflected in his recent
claim that he canceled a HKD10 billion (USD1.3 billion)
project because of the unfavorable business climate
created by Hong Kong's politicized (more democratic)
business climate."
The Commerce documents also reveal Li Ka-Shing's
business dealings with the Chinese military. One document
titled "principal subsidiary and associated companies,"
states that Li owns 25 percent of "Guangzhou Aircraft
Maintenance Engineering Company," a firm run by the
Chinese air force.
The documents show that Li owns one-third of Asia
Satellite Telecommunications Holdings, or AsiaSat, a
company owned in part by the Chinese army. In 1989,
Peter Kwok, the business partner of Robert Blum, the
husband of Senator Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., helped
CITIC and Li Ka-Shing raise $120 million to buy a
Hughes-built communications satellite for AsiaSat.
The documents also state that Li Ka-Shing is directly in
business with the Chinese government through the China
Ocean Shipping Company, or COSCO. In 1996, a COSCO
ship was caught in an attempt to smuggle over 2,000 fully
automatic machine guns into the United States. COSCO is
better known for its unsuccessful attempt to purchase the
former Long Beach Naval station in California.
In January 1997, President Clinton authorized four
container ships for export directly to China. The four
container ships were to be constructed for COSCO and Li
Ka-Shing's Hutchison Whampoa by the Alabama
Shipyards of Mobile, Ala.
The four ships were to be built using $138 million in private
loans backed by the U.S. government. The loans had very
favorable terms, including low interest rates and a 25-year
repayment plan -- longer than the expected life of the
ships. The COSCO container-ship deal fell apart in
November 1997, however, amid questions about COSCO
links to organized crime and the Chinese navy.
Li Ka-Shing's ties to China have also attracted U.S.
military attention. U.S. Defense Department documents
discovered by Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch, a
Washington-based public interest group, focused on Li
Ka-Shing and his company Hutchison Whampoa.
According to an October 1999 "Intelligence Assessment"
prepared by the U.S. military Southern Command, the
Hong Kong billionaire is a potential threat to America.
"Hutchison's
containerized
shipping facilities in
the Panama Canal,
as well as the
Bahamas, could
provide a conduit for illegal shipments of technology or
prohibited items from the West to the PRC, or facilitate
the movement of arms and other prohibited items into the
Americas," concluded the intelligence report.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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