-Caveat Lector-
With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff
For the story behind the story...
Monday, April 2, 2001 11:59 a.m. EDT
Clinton's Chinagate Chickens Come Home to Roost
For eight years the Clinton-Gore administration called them "our
strategic partners."
But now Beijing's military leaders are holding hostage a U.S.
aircraft containing super-secret technology along with its 24-man
crew.
It looks like Bill Clinton's Chinagate chickens are coming home
to roost.
After eight years of Chinese intelligence gathering under the
Clinton administration's "open-skies" policy, where it was
considered destabilizing for the U.S. to maintain military
superiority even over potentially hostile foreign powers, the
strategic balance has plainly shifted.
The Communist Chinese now apparently believe they are in a
position to stare down the U.S. in a high-stakes international
game of chicken.
Thirty-six hours after a U.S. EP-3 Aries spylane was forced down
over the South China Sea, authorities in Beijing have allowed no
communication with the plane's crew, even refusing U.S.
diplomats on the ground access.
Should Americans be surprised at Beijing's belligerence?
Not really. At least not unless they believed the Clinton-Gore
gang's platitudes about strategic engagement with China -
assurances offered while the Democratic duo were stuffing their
pockets with contributions traced back to the Chinese army.
In fact, the handwriting on the wall has been apparent for years.
What else could one deduce from the 1997 testimony of former
Clinton fund-raiser Johnny Chung when he described the chilling
comments made to him by then-head of China's military
intelligence, Gen. Ji Shengde.
"We like your president," Ji told Chung. "We want to see him
re-elected."
Ji promised Chung $300,000 to insure Beijing's desired outcome.
Then there was Charlie Trie, the longtime Clinton crony who just
last year told investigators that money he gave to the
ex-president also came from Chinese military sources.
"An Indonesian businessman with ties to the Chinese military gave
[Trie] $200,000 to contribute to the Democratic Party and to
reimburse those who gave to President Clinton's legal defense
fund," the Washington Times reported.
The Times identified Trie's money man as Tomy Winata, "an ethnic
Chinese who has been described by U.S. intelligence officials as
a businessman who has profited greatly by serving as a front man
for corporations controlled by Indonesian and Chinese army and
intelligence officials."
Despite the twin Chinagate shockers, the testimony of Chung and
Trie caused nary a ripple in last year's presidential campaign.
During the years Bill Clinton and Al Gore were in charge of U.S.
national security, contributions traced back to the Chinese
military kept rolling in - not only from Trie and Chung, but also
from suspected Chinese spy John Huang, arms dealer Wang Jun,
Lippo Group executive James Riady and others.
Meanwhile, China was able to perfect its ballistic missile
technology, thanks to a helping hand by Loral Aerospace Corp.
CEO and Democratic Party mega-donor Bernard Schwartz.
Worse still, while suspected spies like Wen Ho Lee labored away
in New Mexico's Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab, Beijing managed
to get its hands on top secret design plans for the U.S.'s W-88
multiple nuclear warhead.
Despite repeated warnings by Energy Department officials that Lee
was up to no good, the Clinton Justice Department looked the
other way.
Dr. Lee still hasn't told the FBI where he hid the legacy codes
downloaded from his computer at Los Alamos, data U.S. officials
described in 1999 as the "crown jewels" of the American nuclear
weapons program.
And it wasn't just Dr. Lee. Under Clinton Energy Secretary
Hazel O'Leary, countless agents of Beijing were allowed
unprecedented access to some of our most closely guarded nuclear
facilities.
Of course, the fact that China managed to obtain our most
senstive national security secrets while Bill Clinton and Al Gore
raked in campaign cash from agents of the People's Liberation
Army was all just a coincidence. At least that's what we're
told.
The American media did its best to help keep the lid on, with
lethargic Chinagate coverage guaranteed to keep the public from
getting too excited about the apparent betrayal of U.S. security
by a sitting American president.
Even direct nuclear threats from Beijing officials did little to
alarm a quiescent press.
This chilling account of a meeting between China specialist
Charles Freeman and deputy chief of Chinese intelligence Gen.
Xiong Guangkai was reported in the Washington Post, but ignored
by most of the rest of the media:
"'I said you'd get a military reaction from the United States' if
China attacks Taiwan, Freeman recalled, and they said, 'No you
won't. We've watched you in Somalia, Haiti and Bosnia, and you
don't have the will.' Then, according to Freeman, [Guangkai]
added:
"'In the 1950s, you three times
