-Caveat Lector-
WEDNESDAY
DECEMBER 8
1999
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
'Dirty' war in Panama
Congressional investigators say China
to wreak havoc in Central America
By Charles Smith
� 1999 WorldNetDaily.com
Amid widespread concerns and administration
denials following President Clinton's surprise
admission that Communist China soon will be
"running the (Panama) Canal," a previously
unreported secret congressional investigation
reveals that America will soon face a new
"dirty" war in Panama involving China, Cuba
and Russia.
Speaking on the imminent transfer of the canal
to the government of Panama, per the
controversial 1978 Carter-Torrijos treaties,
Clinton said last week, "I think the Chinese will
in fact be bending over backwards to make
sure that they run it in a competent and able
and fair manner. ... And I would be very
surprised if any adverse consequences flowed
from the Chinese running the canal."
Immediately following the president's
statement on Panama, congressional concern
became riveted on a Chinese company called
Hutchison Whampoa, which won the contract
to operate ports at both ends of the vital canal.
Why the concern?
"The president has explicitly acknowledged
what we've been saying all along," said Rep.
Bob Barr, R-Ga. "The unilateral U.S. withdrawal
from Panama has created a vacuum which the
Chinese have eagerly filled."
But Asian billionaire Li Ka-Shing openly
refuted suggestions that his company,
Hutchison Whampoa, would control the
Panama Canal for Communist China.
"We are not even the largest operator in
Panama, compared with some of the
Americans and Taiwan operators," said Li in a
Dec. 1 South China Morning Post article titled
"Li denies controlling Panama Canal."
"We are running a container port business
which has nothing to do with the operation of
the Panama Canal," stated Li.
White House National Security Council
spokesman David Leavy concurred with Li,
stating, "Responsibility for operation of the
canal following the transfer will rest solely
with the government of Panama. The company
in question will have no control over, or role
in, the operation of the canal."
Nevertheless, sounding the alarm was Adm.
Thomas Moorer, who warned recently that,
with the U.S. military presence gone after Dec.
31, a corrupt and defenseless Panama could
well become a Chinese missile base, as Cuba
was for the Soviets a generation ago. White
House spokesman Joe Lockhart dismissed the
analysis of the former chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff as "the kind of silly stuff you
hear from time to time."
Yet, according to congressional investigator Al
Santoli, national security advisor to Rep. Dana
Rohrabacher, R-Calif., the greatest danger is
not likely to be Chinese missiles in Panama.
Rather, the most likely threat comes from a
"dirty," unconventional form of warfare, which
the Chinese will wage in the region -- by
supporting mercenaries, drug cartels, crime
lords and hard-core revolutionaries throughout
Central America.
In May 1999, Santoli led a delegation of
congressional investigators on a special trip to
Panama. The congressional delegation
included Jim Doran, Asia and Pacific specialist
from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
and Dr. Michael Waller, vice president of the
American Foreign Policy Council.
The investigative team's report, "The Panama
Canal in Transition: Threats to U.S. Security
and China's Growing Role In Latin America,"
shows that an old Cold War alliance of China,
Russia and Cuba is responsible for the new
troubles south of the U.S. border.
Chinese and Russian organized crime
For instance, the investigation uncovered
evidence of Chinese espionage in the canal.
"The unofficial representative of the People's
Republic of China (PRC) is believed to be a
senior intelligence officer who operates out of
an office on the top floor of a bank building in
Panama City, with a staff of 14 assistants,"
states the congressional report.
"Ironically," wrote the investigators, "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.
"Chinese organized crime operations are active
in drugs, guns and illegal alien smuggling in
Panama, and the Russian Mafia is known to be
supplying weapons to Colombian
narco-terrorist forces," the congressional
investigators said. "The war in neighboring
Colombia against well-armed narco-terrorist
forces, with a history of ties to Cuba, is
escalating and threatens to spread throughout
the region."
This new "dirty war" with China is by no
means expected to be limited to traditional
combat. According to the congressional
investigators, Chinese intelligence officers
often use their checkbook as a weapon of
"economic" war -- buying off corrupt officials
and eager business partners.
"The Panamanian government has an ongoing
reputation for corruption and
mismanagement," states the report. In fact, says
the congressional report, the Chinese came to
control the vital waterway through crooked
means.
"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."
The Chinese military connection
Hutchison Whampoa's role in the canal,
although praised by President Clinton, has
caused widespread alarm. Controlled by
Chinese billionaire Li Ka-Shing, Hutchison
Whampoa was previously denied access to the
port of Long Beach due to national security
concerns expressed in Congress.
Indeed, Li Ka-Shing's association with the
Chinese army intelligence machine is well
documented. Li was recently described by
William Triplett, co-author of "Red Dragon
Rising", as "the banker" for the Chinese Army.
"Li Ka-Shing is to the Chinese Army
intelligence HQ what Howard Hughes was for
the CIA," said Triplett.
Li Ka-Shing's closest tie to Beijing also happens
to be his global business partner. The national
flag shipping carrier for Communist China --
the Chinese Ocean Shipping Company, better
known as COSCO -- has an exclusive contract
with Li Ka-Shing's Hutchison Whampoa.
But, according to the House Task Force on
Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare,
President Clinton is withholding important
information about the Chinese Ocean Shipping
Company from the public.
"Although presented as a commercial entity,
COSCO is actually an arm of the Chinese
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," states a 1998 special
report written by the congressional task force.
But why would the House Task Force on
"Terrorism" investigate a Chinese shipping
company?
In June 1998, U.S. intelligence agencies
tracked a Chinese Ocean Shipping
Company ship carrying weapons
materials and electronics destined for
Pakistan's major nuclear weapons
laboratory. The COSCO arms shipment
included special metals and electronics
used in the production of Chinese
designed anti-tank missiles made by the
A.Q. Khan Research Laboratories -- the
same facility that produces nuclear
weapons for Pakistan.
COSCO delivers Chinese weapons
exported to the Middle East. In February
1997, the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings
magazine published aerial photos of five
new Chinese-built Houdong-class patrol
boats, armed with C.802 missiles, being
transferred to Iran. The five patrol boats
were on the deck of the COSCO freighter
Guang Zhou as it sailed into gulf waters.
Earlier this year the Hong Kong Ming
Pao newspaper reported the Chinese
navy is refitting COSCO merchant ships
for use in war. COSCO container ships
can be used for both sea and ground
operations, ferrying troops and armored
vehicles to launch attacks or land on
beachheads. Chinese military officers told
Ming Pao that some merchant ships are
being fitted with large caliber artillery
and multi-barrel rocket launchers,
medium- and small-caliber anti-aircraft
guns and guided missiles.
In 1996, Poly Technologies Corporation
executive Robert Ma allegedly conspired
with China North Industries (NORINCO)
representative Richard Chen to import
2,000 AK-47 fully automatic machine
guns into the United States.
U.S. Customs agents, posing as Miami drug
smugglers, offered to buy the Chinese machine
guns. According to the 100-page federal
indictment from one of the key undercover
agents, Chen and Ma had to call back to the
Chinese army headquarters in Beijing in order
to obtain the weapons. The Customs agent's
deposition stated that Chen and Ma had
difficulty in getting the "barrels" because they
required "higher-level permission."
The machine guns were to be transferred to the
Long Beach port in California on board the
COSCO ship, the "Princess Bride," according to
a 1996 document obtained by a federal lawsuit
from the U.S. Commerce Department.
However, a leak from the State Department
alerted the company, which then canceled the
delivery. The weapons finally were confiscated
from onboard a COSCO ship after being
illegally sent to the U.S. port of Los Angeles.
"According to Defense Department intelligence
officials COSCO operates a fleet of ELINT
(electronic intelligence) trawlers for the PRC
government," says an untitled Commerce
Department report. "When China delivers
missiles or chemical agents to the Middle East,
specially outfitted COSCO ships deliver them."
Clinton with Chinese machine gun
honcho
President Clinton's role in all this was
highlighted by a 1996 White House visit of
Wang Jun, Chairman of Poly Technologies, the
Chinese machine gun manufacturer. On Feb. 6,
1996, Bill Clinton met in the White House with
Wang Jun, along with convicted Democratic
National Committee donor Charlie Trie and
then-Commerce Secretary Ron Brown.
Only a few months after the meeting with
Clinton, Poly Technologies executive Robert
Ma was arrested for the smuggling incident in
Los Angeles. Although Ma has not been
prosecuted and he has since fled to China,
President Clinton has made no public
statement to press Beijing for his return.
Clinton's public statement of confidence in
China's control of the canal -- "They'll want to
demonstrate to a distant part of the world that
they can be a responsible partner," the
president said -- just confirms the seriousness
of the threat, says Barr.
"In light of the President's formal
acknowledgment that the Communist Chinese
will be 'running the canal,' those of us who care
about protecting this strategic asset should be
emboldened in our campaign to take action to
do so," said Barr.
"The President's statement underscores the
need for Congress to step in and take action to
counter this now-confirmed Chinese threat," he
said.
Related stories:
In 2000, it's China Canal
Media silence on Panama Canal
Betraying the dream: Let's face the truth about
Panama as a 'sovereign nation'
Chokehold for China
Early warning on espionage
Li Ka-Shing: Red arms dealer
Carter's Marxist mouthpiece
A big break for COSCO deal
Is COSCO deal dead?
Long Beach won't give up on COSCO
Roadblock removed in COSCO deal
The COSCO cover-up
Charles Smith is a WorldNetDaily staff writer.
� 1999 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.
This page was last built 12/8/99; 2:15:27 AM
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Bard
Be on the Alert for news of a
rapist-engineered crisis
which will enable him to
declare a National Emergency
and dissolution of Congress;
he likes that job too well.
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