In SPHERE (December 2004, pp. 36, 37), published by the International Journal of the Hutchison Whampoa Group, we are told that "While remaining focused on its core businesses – keeping international trade flowing, operating manufacturing plants, running busy retail outlets and erecting landmark buildings – HWL [Hutchison Whampoa Limited] is also seizing the opportunities presented by new technologies in areas such as telecommunications and e-commerce.

"In recent years, HWL has emerged as a leading player in the mobile telecoms industry and is a pioneer in rolling out the latest generation 3G networks.

"HWL embraces the globe, operating on five continents in 42 countries, but Hong Kong is home, and the Group’s businesses are intertwined with daily life in the territory. …"

"On the international scene, HWL takes pride in being able to operate globally yet integrate with local cultures. Hutchison Ports Holdings, the world’s largest container ports operator, keeps boxes moving across the continents, with 35 ports operations worldwide. Husky Energy pumps oil from the frigid fields of northern Canada and from beneath the North Atlantic Ocean floor."

"Eleven million people in seven countries stay in touch via mobile networks provided by Hutchison Telecom, a company listed in both New York and Hong Kong.

"When an American child receives a toy for Christmas, or when a UK customer purchases a bluetooth headset for his mobile phone, there’s every likelihood these items were made by Hutchison Harbour Ring, a listed manufacturing arm of HWL.

"When residents of South Australia plug in to the electricity supply, the power keeps flowing thanks to HWL’s investments in Australian utilities companies; and when a Milan [businessman] makes a videocall, it’s because HWL has built 3G networks across eight countries worldwide.

"HWL’s impetus has accelerated greatly in the past 25 years. Listed on the main board of Hong Kong Stock Exchange with a market cap of US$36,199.06 million (as at Nov. 26), HWL is a key constituent of the Hang Seng Index."

Hutchison Whampoa has established a significant commercial presence in Mexico at Veracruz, Ensenada, Manzanillo, and Lazaro Cardenas, at Freeport in The Bahamas, and in Argentina at Buenos Aires. They are now seeking a major presence in the State of Florida.

"Just over four years ago, Congress made a move that it hoped would put U.S.-China relations on a more stable footing. … Congress granted China the status of permanent normal trade relations and ended the annual ritual of threatening to impose massive tariff penalties on Beijing.

"There was great hope that this would usher in a more mature relationship between Washington and Beijing and convince China to clean up its act on many fronts. Unfortunately, there is little evidence that the People’s Republic of China that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice found on her recent visit is less repressive, a better trading partner or a more responsible member of the international community.

"Unquestionably, granting permanent normal trade relations to China has been a boon for U.S.-China commerce. Trade has expanded from $116 billion in 2000 to $232 billion in 2004, making China the United States’ third largest trading partner." Source: Greg Mastel, The Hill, 4/27/05, p. 36

"Relative to our trading partners, the U.S. imposes many costs on our manufacturing businesses that make it difficult for them to compete. Without these additional burdens, American firms would be far more cost-competitive, leading to increased employment and wages.

"The NAM/MAPI [National Association of Manufacturers/Manufacturers Alliance] study identifies four key areas where American manufacturing firms are significantly burdened compared with our principal competitors. It estimates they add 22.4% to the cost of production here relative to there.

"This last point is reinforced by a new study from Tillinghast-Towers Perrin, a consulting group. Last week, it estimated that U.S. tort costs climbed to $233 billion in 2002, or 2.23% of the gross domestic product. … This is like an $809 per-year tax on every American, paid in the form of higher prices for goods and services, higher insurance costs and a deterioration in living standards.

"In its Dec. 15 issue, Newsweek details some of the ways in which lawsuits for personal injuries, medical malpractice and other things have reduced the quality of life in America. Children’s playgrounds have been closed and sports tournaments canceled, ministers are afraid to comfort their parishioners, coaches are fearful of suits when a child is not picked for a cheerleading squad, and on and on. …

"Of course, legitimate personal injuries deserve compensation. But less and less of each dollar awarded in tort suits compensates for injury. According to the Tillinghast study, only 22 cents on the dollar compensate for actual economic loss. The rest went to lawyers or involved punitive damages or those for ‘pain and suffering’ that went beyond compensating actual loss. …

"At the moment, one has to pay about $1.24 for each euro, while three years ago one only had to pay about 80 cents for a euro.…

"The world now is actually on a two-currency standard – the dollar and the euro. …

"[T]he U.S. government made a series of mistakes that have discouraged foreign investors. America now is viewed as unfriendly to foreign investors. Certain provisions of the Patriot Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act produce excessive and costly paperwork and unnecessary privacy intrusions. …

 630,000 TEXTILE JOBS LOST TO RED CHINA

"If China’s unfettered trade continues growing at the rate it is today, the U.S. apparel and textile industry stands to lose 630,000 jobs and 1,300 textile plants by 2006, according to an in-house report compiled by the American Textile Manufacturers Institute.

" ‘If China follows the same pattern in 2005, when the bulk of its quotas will be removed, then China’s share of the U.S. textile and apparel market will rise to over two-thirds of the U.S. market within 24 months,’ the report stated." Source: Kristi Ellis, WWD.com, 7/3/03, p. 3

THE CHINESE SPACE THREAT IS REAL AND MUST BE CONFRONTED URGENTLY

"As China becomes only the third country, after the Soviet Union and the U.S., to put a human in space, it is important to consider the military and strategic implications of such an achievement. And it is a very significant achievement by any measure. …

"As China uses its cheap labor to become the world’s manufacturing center, it generates huge amounts of foreign exchange that enable it to finance both military modernization and space adventures. Chinese officials claim the Shenzhou program is ‘purely for peaceful purposes,’ but the orbital module already is being used to gather electronic intelligence (ELINT). …

"It may be true that China’s astronauts will not engage in military activities, at least initially, but the orbital module they leave behind is loaded with equipment that will autonomously conduct surveillance from space. Data are downloaded electronically when the spacecraft is over China. The Shenzhou 3 and 4 orbital modules were China’s first ELINT satellites. They have enabled Beijing to track U.S. naval movements since March 2002.

"Shenzhou 4 must have given Beijing a front row seat during the fighting in Iraq. Shenzhou 5, going up today, has another military payload, a space-based reconnaissance capability consisting of two cameras that provide images with a ground resolution estimated at five feet. This is militarily useful imagery that can be updated on demand.

"Beijing’s ability to put satellites with electronic, signals and photo reconnaissance capabilities in orbit on a continuing basis gives it a global reach in intelligence-gathering that puts U.S. forces, especially carrier task forces in the Pacific, at grater risk. In the longer term, China’s ambitious space program, its research in lasers and anti-satellites, and its new ballistic and cruise missiles, could lead to a new global strategic balance.

"Citing national-security concerns, two Democratic lawmakers are engaged in a last-ditch effort to halt plans for the transfer of an Indiana factory that produces critical technology used in the guidance systems of U.S. ‘smart bombs’ to the People’s Republic of China.

"The Department of Defense denies any impropriety, but some observers are asking: Is it a case of politics as usual, or a cover-up? The Magnequench factory (originally known as UGIMAG) was sold in August 2000 to a consortium that included Chinese interests. In 2001, it was announced the plant would be shut down.

"The factory is responsible for producing 80 percent of the rare-earth permanent magnets used in the guidance systems of U.S. ‘smart bombs,’ according to lawmakers.

"On Aug. 1, the office of Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., issued a statement indicating he and Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., were mounting a ‘last-ditch’ effort to halt the factory move to China. Citing the loss of 225 northwest Indiana jobs, Visclosky also expressed concern over the ‘transfer of sensitive defense technology to the People’s Republic of China.’ …"

"The two lawmakers reportedly received no response from letters sent to President Bush on March 6 and May 1. Two letters sent to Treasury Secretary John Snow (on May 20 and June 5) received a response turning down a request from the congressman for a meeting. Several phone calls also have received no response. …

"Magnequench, a high-tech company created in 1986 by General Motors, pioneered the development and production of sintered neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) – magnets used in the guidance system of ‘smart bombs.’ Beijing San Huan New Materials High-Tech Inc. is a holding of the Chinese Academy of Science Business Group and was established in 1985. China National Non-Ferrous Metals – previously described by the Wall Street Journal as a ‘high-flying state company’ – operates under the control of the State Council, one of the major organs of the Chinese government.

"The 1995 sale required approval from the Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S., or CFIUS. The CFIUS is an inter-agency committee chaired by the secretary of treasury, tasked with conducting reviews of foreign acquisitions that might threaten national security.

" ‘Concerns raised by American officials about what they considered a clear case of the PRC attempting to obtain control of vital U.S. weapons technology were shot down, and CFIUS permitted the buyout,’ reported Insight magazine and WND. …"

"The ministry oversees the ‘863 Program,’ an aggressive science and technology acquisition program first launched by Deng Xiaoping and funded and controlled by the Chinese government. It is formally known as the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China. Its name comes from the month (March) and year (1986) it was implemented.

"U.S. government reports indicate the ‘Super 863 Program’ (as it was called after 1996) calls for continued acquisition and development of technology in a number of areas of military concern, including machine tools, electronics, petrochemicals, electronic information, bioengineering, and nuclear research, aviation and space. …"

"About the 863 Program, the 1999 congressional Cox Report noted, ‘These projects could advance the PRC’s development of materials, such as composites, for military aircraft and other weapons.’ Potential dual-use of exotic materials acquisitions were said to be a key area of military concern.’ … According to Russia/China expert Dr. Alexandr V. [Nemetz], Chinese language explanations of 863 emphasize military goals above civilian goals. …"

"It is Nemetz’s opinions that since 1986, through its 863 Program, China has been developing post-nuclear superweapons using knowledge gained from the ‘dragnet’ of the eight fields of research.

"Nemetz, who refers to the West as ‘geostrategically lobotomized,’ has been highly critical of the Bush administration’s war on Iraq, faulting it for not focusing on what he considers to be the far greater threat of strategic developments in China.

" ‘Project 863 has at its disposal not only everything necessary for its development of non-machine post-nuclear superweapons, but also the scientific manpower of the entire world,’ said Nemetz. Nemetz is a consultant to the American Foreign Policy Council and co-author of ‘Chinese-Russian Military Relations, Fate of Taiwan and New Geopolitics.’ A former student of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, Nemetz worked at the Presidium of Academy of Sciences USSR as an expert on the economic and technological development of China and Japan, and published several dozen articles and booklets in the Soviet scientific media. …

"If China’s unfettered trade continues growing at the rate it is today, the U.S. apparel and textile industry stands to lose 630,000 jobs and 1,300 textile plants by 2006, according to an in-house report compiled by the American Textile Manufacturers Institute.

"With China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December 2001, the country’s overall trade volume is expected to increase greatly over the next few years. However, in order for Chinese ports to more efficiently meet the demands of increased trade, information technology-based solutions and customs training programs must be implemented. These improvements will help Chinese ports to process a larger amount of goods in shorter time periods. In addition, increased efficiency at ports of entry will enable China to meet WTO international trading standards, lower customs duties, and minimize non-tariff barriers to trade.

"[T]he GOP House voted 270 to 156 for President Bush’s free-trade deal with Chile … consider what we got in this deal and what we gave up.

"Chile’s GDP of $70 billion is not even 1 percent of ours. Her per-capita GDP of $4,400 is one-eighth of ours. We have thus gained access to a tiny Latin market, while Chilean manufacturers just gained privileged access to the $10 trillion U.S. market, where consumers have a per-capita GDP of around $37,000.

"According to a Pentagon report this week, China last year deployed and targeted 100 new missiles on Taiwan for a total of 450 and has begun a crash program to build longer-range missiles to strike and paralyze U.S. bases on Okinawa, Guam and South Korea.

"China has replaced Mexico and Japan as the second-biggest exporter to the U.S. market, illustrating its rapidly growing economic might, a report said on Monday.

"China expanded its U.S.-bound exports 24.1 per cent year-on-year to $80 billion in the first seven months, replacing Mexico as the No. 2 exporter to the United States, according to data released by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and the Korea International Trade Association. Mexico’s U.S.-bound exports increased by 2.1 per cent in the same period.

"In 2002, China overtook Japan to capture third place by exporting $125.1 billion in goods to the United States. As a result, China’s share of the U.S. imports market jumped from 10.75 per cent last year to 11.19 per cent this year.

"The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, State and the Judiciary held a hearing in May on ‘How Trade with China Affects American Manufacturing.’ At that hearing, the National Association of Manufacturers projected that in five years, the U.S. trade deficit with China would triple to more than $330 billion if current trends continued. Based on the first half of this year, the 2003 deficit with China will reach $120 billion, the largest and most lopsided deficit in the U.S. trade accounts.

"Since 1997, the U.S. trade position has deteriorated dramatically. That was the year of the global financial crisis that started in Asia, then spread to Russia and Latin America. That 1997 crisis threw many countries into recessions from which they have not recovered. The result has been smaller export markets for American goods and more aggressive efforts by distressed foreign producers to dump their goods into the U.S. market.

"China, however, has escaped the global downturn. In June, Chinese exports rose 33 percent from a year earlier to $34.5 billion, while production increased 17 percent, according to Beijing. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for growth of 27 percent in exports and a 13 percent rise in factory output.

"In the seminal Chinese treatise on modern strategy ‘Unrestricted War’ by People’s Liberation Army Cols. Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui published in 1999, the unfolding financial crisis is compared to military conflict: ‘Economic prosperity that once excited the constant admiration of the Western world changed to a depression, like the leaves of a tree that are blown away in a single night by the autumn wind. After just one round of fighting, the economies of a number of countries had fallen back 20 years. What is more, such a defeat on the economic front precipitates a near collapse of the social and political order. The casualties resulting from the constant chaos are no less than those resulting from a regional war.’

""Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank, has given an important vote of confidence to China, announcing a landmark ‘strategic partnership’ with the mainland’s largest bank to dispose of non-performing loans worth up to Rmb10bn ($1.2bn).

"Hank Paulson, Goldman’s chairman and chief executive officer, became one of the first senior western financial figures to visit China since the Sars outbreak when he arrived in Beijing to sign the deal.

"He said he hoped the venture would mark the beginning of a ‘long-term relationship’ with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), which has assets of $600bn and a nonperforming loan (NPL) ratio of 24 per cent.

" ‘This is a very important market for Goldman Sachs and we are more committed than ever to China,’ Mr. Paulson said. … As well as deepening Goldman Sachs’ knowledge of Chinese banking the deal is an important relationship builder. ‘They might hope to become a financial adviser to ICBC and later even underwrite any [stock market] listing,’ said Yuan Mingliang, a Shanghai-based analyst." Source: From Shanghai, Richard McGregor, Financial Times, 6/5/03, p. 1

"Congress should consider the sobering fact that the Chinese hold billions of dollars of U.S. debt. The dollars the Chinese acquire by selling us goods and services eventually must be returned to the United States. Since the Chinese are not buying an equivalent amount of American goods and services, they use dollars to finance our extravagant spending.

"The collapse of world socialism and the rise of globalism have made U.S. capital, technology, and business know-how highly mobile. Today it is as easy – and far less expensive – for a U.S. firm to produce abroad for U.S. markets. Instead of locating its capital and technology in Ohio, California, or South Carolina, the company locates its facility in China, for example.

"By locating in China, the firm substitutes a work force that is paid less than a dollar an hour for U.S. labor that costs $26 an hour. By locating in China, the firm also avoids expensive regulations, torts, employment taxes, and discrimination lawsuits. …

"The loss of high productivity jobs takes away the ladders of upward mobility and wipes out human capital. A displaced U.S. software engineer cannot move to China or India to seek employment in his profession.

"Retraining is not an answer, because almost the entire range of knowledge jobs can be outsourced. …

"Economists mistake the free movement of factors of production for free trade. Raised on the theory of comparative advantage, economists know that free trade is mutually beneficial. They dismiss without thought any concerns that seem to call free trade into question. The case for free trade has been unassailable for so long that economists have overlooked that today’s circumstances do not comply with the assumptions of the theory. …

"The collapse of world socialism changed circumstances overnight. U.S. labor now faces direct competition in global labor markets. The excess supply of labor in these markets will drive down wages, salaries and employment in the U.S. As the dollar is likely to lose value under pressure from our growing trade deficit, the decline in wages will not be compensated by a decline in prices, and U.S. living standards will fall. …

Jane Perlez writes from Jakarta, Indonesia (New York Times, 6/28/02, pp. 1, A10) that "From South Korea to Indonesia, China is rapidly strengthening its economic presence across Asia, gobbling up foreign investment and chipping away at the United States’ position as the region’s economic engine.

"As it buys up goods, parts and raw materials from its neighbors as never before, China has accompanied its new heft with diplomatic efforts to assure them that it wants to offer cooperation, not competition. Many have rushed to China’s embrace and are nimbly shifting their economic alliances, particularly as the United States makes its way through only a tentative economic recovery. …

"China is already an economic and political threat to Japan, the prime ally of the United States in the region, these analysts say. … So far, the Bush administration has been loath to talk publicly about China as an economic challenger in Asia. …

Karby Leggett writes from Shanghai, China (Wall Street Journal, 7/5/02, p. A7) that "China and three major foreign oil companies signed a contract to build one [of] the world’s largest natural-gas pipelines, a project that could ultimately require as much as $20 billion in investment and mark a huge step forward in the country’s effort to satisfy its future energy needs. …

"Under the terms of the agreement, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Russia’s OAO Gazprom will each own 15% of the company that will build the 2,500-mile pipeline stretching from China’s far west to its eastern coast. PetroChina Co., China’s largest oil producer, will hold 50%, while Sinopec Corp., its biggest refiner, will own the remaining 5%, company officials said. Initial investment, focusing mostly on construction, drilling and production but not on the sale of the natural gas, is expected to top $8 billion. …

Jane Perlez writes from Beijing (New York Times, 7/29/01, p. 1) about Secretary of State Colin Powell’s meetings with the Chinese that "any discomfort the Chinese felt about the brevity of the visit may have been overcome by the secretary’s enthusiasm for all the new buildings he saw from his limousine window as he sped up and down a highway on his round of appointments. The buildings, he said, illustrated the strides China has made since he last visited in 1983, and the ‘gifted, skilled political leadership that would move the country in that direction.’

"Forty-eight hours after Secretary of State Colin Powell left Beijing, the U.S. quietly signed a formal agreement with China. Here is why you didn’t hear much about it. When pro-democracy demonstrators were [massacred] in Tiananmen Square in 1989, the United States, in protest, suspended a trade development program we had with China. The program provided subsidies from U.S. taxpayers to China to help them develop their trade. In January, just before he left office, Bill Clinton renewed the agreement with Beijing. That’s not surprising since China and Clinton were very ‘close’ as we all know. What is sad and surprising is that the Bush Administration has let the Clinton agreement with China go forward.

"This incident was good for China because it demonstrated that America will do anything to avoid confrontation, and will sacrifice its national honor to accommodate the Chinese.

"What message have we just telegraphed allies in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea? What about other rogue nations and terrorist groups that may take Americans hostage in the future?

"For almost two weeks China kept poking us in the eye with an ice pick. ...

HOUSE REPUBLICANS BACK CLINTON BY A MARGIN OF 164 TO 73

164 Republicans (CAPS) and 73 Democrats (lower case) voted to give permanent Most-Favored-Nation trade status to Red China (Roll Call no. 228, passed 237 to 197, 5/24/00):

The 57 Republicans (CAPS), 138 Democrats (lower case), and 2 Independents (italics) who voted against permanent MFN for Red China were:

Eric Schmitt reports (New York Times, 5/26/00, p. 1) from Washington that "When Representative Tom DeLay came to work on Wednesday, he was still a vote or two shy of the bare-minimum 150 Republicans he needed to help push the China trade bill over the top."

TOM DeLAY, G.W. BUSH, AND COLIN POWELL WHIPPED REPUBLICAN BACK-BENCHERS

"Mr. DeLay, the Republican whip, had lined up lots of help. Gov. George W. Bush of Texas was recruited to cajole several wavering Republicans. So was Gen. Colin L. Powell. Dozens of pro-grade lobbyists and corporate chieftains fanned out on Capitol Hill to buttonhole the last dozen or so undeclared members for what both camps predicted would be a nail-biter.

"Over the next crucial hours, those calls and an array of other influences paid off, as virtually every undeclared Republican, and even a few others who had been written off, broke Mr. DeLay's way. In all, 164 Republicans joined 73 Democrats [who] voted to grant China permanent normal trading status, wiping out economic restrictions rooted in cold-war policy for a quarter century. ..."

2/3 OF GOP ABANDONED ANTI-COMMUNISM

"Normalizing trade with China was a victory for the Clinton administration, but House Republicans had their own reasons for voting three-to-one in favor of the bill. Passage insured that Republicans' corporate benefactors would fully benefit....

"The House Republican leadership closed ranks behind the bill.... But they needed to produce two-thirds of the yes votes, and had a tough sell with many Republicans who balked at rewarding a trade plum to a Communist government with a record of religious persecution and political repression."

Family Research Council reports (Washington Update, 5/25/00) that "Speaker Denny Hastert (R-Ill.) spoke for most Republican House members as he appealed for support for Permanent Most Favored Nation trade status for China when he said: 'We are going to send [China] a glimpse of freedom, and the idea of Illinois' favorite son, Abraham Lincoln, the great emancipator.' The Republicans delivered 164 of the 237 votes in favor of the measure. That was fully seventy percent of the majority vote The New York Times called 'a Clinton triumph.' But Georgia Republican Charlie Norwood said: 'This is not just cheap labor, my friends. This is slave labor.' Norwood was a leader among the 57 Republicans and 138 Democrats who opposed giving China permanent trading privileges. Speaker Hastert was awarded a giant fortune cookie by jubilant supporters after the vote."

Paul Sperry observes (WorldNetDaily.com, 5/24/00) that "Lost in all the glowing hype over China's 'market reforms,' 'miracle economy' and 'vast untapped' consumer base is a darker story -- one that Beijing, the White House and Washington's pro-China lobby don't want you to hear, says a prominent Chinese dissident in exile here.

"It's a secret tale of People's Liberation Army soldiers storming a depressed mining town to put down the worst industrial rioting in years. And angry jobless farmers staging a record 2,000 riots against local communist authorities.

"The unrest comes as China's unemployment rate hits a 30-year high and its economy nears collapse."

AMERICAN DOLLARS HELP SMASH ANTI-COMMUNIST PROTESTS

"Such internal pressures are the real reason Beijing wants to lock in trade favors with the U.S., says dissident Wei Jingsheng (pronounced: Way Gin-shun), the father of China's democracy movement. It desperately needs money for the PLA to retake Taiwan, but also to smash uprisings.

"'It's highly unstable over there,' Wei said in a recent interview."

FDR PROPPED UP STALIN -- GOP KEEPS ZIANG JEMIN IN POWER

"Speaking through an interpreter, Wei said the communist regime is losing control over the masses. Denied unemployment benefits, while seeing more and more butter diverted to guns (and the pockets of PLA princelings), the country's 800 million peasants are growing increasingly restless, he said. 'The economy is in very bad shape,' he said. 'There is a possibility of revolt.' ...

"High unemployment is not limited to the countryside. It's climbed to 20 percent in the cities, says economist Peter Brain of the National Institute for Economic and Industrial Research in Melbourne, Australia.

"Sources in Beijing report hordes of unemployed drifters being kept from Beijing (and Western eyes) through routine dragnets on the highway approaches to the capital. In Guangzhou, tens of thousands of unemployed are told to sit each day, like potted plants in a massive square."

FORCED MIGRATION OF 300 MILLION PEASANTS AIDED BY HUD

"To boost sagging consumer demand in the cities, communist leaders are planning to move 300 million peasants into cities and towns in what will be the world's largest forced human resettlement. (It looks like the Clinton administration is helping in the effort. HUD recently signed a deal with Beijing to help it build new public housing.) ...

"Last year's budget deficit hit a record. Some 70 percent of current borrowings are going to service existing debt, Brain says. At 21 percent of GDP, China's debt is five times higher than it was in 1995, says Brookings Institution economist Nicholas Lardy."

ANTI-U.S. MILITARY BUILD-UP IS SUBSIDIZED BY MFN

"How did it get in this mess? Through the biggest military buildup on the planet (though Japan's depression hasn't helped). The Chinese Communist Party, which funds the Central Military Commission, has ordered eight years of double-digit hikes in military spending.

"Modernizing the military is the Chinese Communist Party's real aim in cutting a trade deal with the U.S., Wei says."

GOVERNMENT-CONTROLLED BANKS REDIRECT THE $$

"'Since the Chinese government runs the banks, they will take Western loans and turn around and put them into the military,' he said. It will also apply U.S. technology to develop new weapons systems.

"The PLA controls some 15,000 companies. Though their sales total about $10 billion, most are poorly run and lose money. But without the PLA, there is no communist control. So the army must continue to be fed, Wei says. 'The Chinese government doesn't really care about investments,' he said. 'They just care about staying in power.'"

Larry Klayman and Chris Farrell point out in WorldNetDaily (3/14/00) that "Careful examination of the Chinese tycoon's [Li Ka-shing] growing empire and his cozy relationship with the Communist Chinese government reveals the potential for an insidious manipulation of Western ports, markets, utilities and telecommunications that could apply crippling pressure to the United States and her few remaining allies."

ECONOMIC BLACKMAIL CAN BE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN NUCLEAR ATTACK

"Indeed, through Li Ka-shing's empire -- a front for Communist Chinese expansion -- the Mainland does not need to invade Western democracies or launch missile attacks against them to flex its muscle. It can simply threaten to shut down public utilities and key industries which it now controls -- throwing Western markets into complete turmoil, if not disaster."

OIL, GAS, AND ELECTRICITY

"The frightening story begins in 1979, when Li Ka-shing purchased what became the controlling interest in one of the oldest 19th century British trading houses, or 'hongs' of Hong Kong, known as Hutchison-Whampoa. Already a millionaire from real estate and property management investments, Li launched a diversification program through HW that involved trading, cargo and container operations, logistics, warehousing, engineering and even retail sales. Today Li Ka-shing's net worth is estimated at a whopping $13 billion.

"Li expanded into the utility and energy fields in 1985 by acquiring a 33 percent interest in Hong Kong Electric Holdings Ltd. Two years later in 1987, Li expanded overseas again, this time by taking a 43 percent interest in Husky Oil, an oil and gas company based in Canada. Since then, Husky Oil ownership has shifted to 46 percent ownership by Li and his family, 49 percent-owned by HW and 5 percent by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Husky ranks among Canada's top producers of crude oil, natural gas and recovered sulfur."

HUTCHISON CONTROLS 10% OF GLOBAL CONTAINER TRAFFIC

"The 1990s brought continued diversification and expansion to Li's holdings. In 1993, Li became involved in a bidding war over Hong Kong's Miramar Hotel & Investment Company. Interestingly, Li's partner in the bid was CITIC Pacific, the Hong Kong-listed arm of the China International Trust and Investment Corporation that is controlled by the Communist Chinese government. His 'opponent' (to whom he 'lost') in the Miramar bidding was Mr. Lee Shau-kee -- Li's partner in many other joint ventures. Li's partnerships with CITIC and Lee in various investment and development initiatives are frequent and diverse. ...

"HW has done well as the operator of Hong Kong International Terminals, the world's largest independently owned container terminal, and, profits from HW port and related services totaled $3,097 million in Hong Kong dollars. As the world's biggest independent port operator, Hutchison Port Holdings has invested in 17 ports, operates 79 berths and handles about 10 percent of global container traffic. Operating ports include Shanghai in China; Felixstowe, Thamesport, Harwich in the UK; Freeport Container Port on Grand Bahama Island; and a 50 percent interest in the Grand Bahama Airport Company, which comprises an 11,000-foot long runway capable of handling the world's biggest aircraft. This investment also includes a 780-acre tract of land between the airport and container port. Plans are being prepared to develop this into an industrial park, which will also contain a sea/air business center. Other investments in the Bahamas include three hotels and two golf courses."

LI KA-SHING GIVES RED CHINA A PRESENCE AT KEY PORTS IN EUROPE AND WESTERN HEMISPHERE

"Not satisfied with controlling Britain's three principal seaports and the Panama Canal, Li's European expansion includes a $357 million plan to acquire the continent's largest container handler, Europe Combined Terminals in Rotterdam, Holland. The European Commission launched a four-month investigation into the proposed deal, ending with a determination to allow HW to negotiate a 35 percent stake in ECT.

"In further bids to 'diversify,' Li has purchased all of South Australia's electricity distribution and retail assets, also pledging to acquire a 25 percent stake in the Bangkok Transit Systems Company's 'Skytrain' project -- costing Mr. Li between $100 and 200 million."

COMMUNICATIONS INFLUENCE IS TARGET OF LI'S SON

"Following in his father's footsteps, Richard Li, at 35 years old, the second son of the patriarch, has made his own mark in the business world, wheeling and dealing with the likes of the ubiquitous Intel Corporation and telecommunications giant Global Crossing. Richard Li has an affinity for high-tech ventures and has expanded the family's business accordingly. He launched, developed, and then sold the Asia-wide Star TV satellite television network, thanks to mutually supportive network infrastructure contracts let by his father's HW conglomerate.

"However, Richard Li's high-tech corporate incubator is the Pacific Century Group, a company which has been granted a seaside 'campus' on scarce Hong Kong real estate by the Beijing government, valued at $775 million to create 'Cyperport.' The $1.74 billion project is backed by campus tenants Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Softbank and Pacific Convergence Corporation (a joint venture between Pacific Century Group and Intel). Interestingly, a similar high-tech campus called 'The City of Knowledge' has been proposed by Panama's quasi-governmental 'Inter-oceanic Regional Authority' (ARI) for the former U.S. Southern Command's Fort Clayton. ARI representatives suggest that 'Chinese entities' conceived of and are interested in bidding on the project this summer.

"Richard Li's subsequent acquisition of the telecommunications firm Tricom Holdings Ltd. has been rolled into the Pacific Century Group operation to create Pacific Century CyberWorks PCCW. In an effort to bring high-speed Internet access to Asia, Intel has invested an additional $50 million into Richard Li's PCCW, giving the American firm a 13 percent stake. In a bit of seemingly 'circular promotion,' PCCW's participation in Cyberport is being touted as a reason for additional outside investors to join the project."

CABLE AND WIRELESS ACQUISITION

"The Li family's continued business conquest of shipping, utilities and communications infrastructure recently continued with yet another acquisition. In a move that some say highlights the wholly integrated relationship between the Li family and Communist China, Richard Li's nine-month-old PCCW strangely outbid communications leviathan Singapore Telecommunications to acquire Cable and Wireless HKT. ...

"Meanwhile, the elder Li has joined with U.S. telecom company Global Crossing in a $1.2 billion dollar joint venture to link Hong Kong to the United States by submarine fiber-optic cable to offer high-speed trans-Pacific network service for corporations. Within the last two weeks, Li announced the formation of a 50-50 joint venture with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Inc. ('DLJdirect') to launch and manage an online investment service. He has also forged a new alliance with Web travel discounter Priceline.com."

Bill Gill of the American Coalition for Competitive Trade, Inc. asks in his March, 2000 newsletter: "Was the big fastener screw that controlled the horizontal stabilizer on the McDonnell-Douglas 83 Alaskan Airlines jet that crashed and killed all 88 Americans on board made in Communist China? The National Transportation Safety Board investigators believe a break in the fastener caused the crash but I had not seen or heard any media reports that it had been manufactured in China as I suspected. Tommy Grant [president of the Grant Fastener Company and chairman of the Fastener Quality Association of America] gave it to me straight...."

WAS ALASKA AIRLINES CRASH "MADE IN COMMUNIST CHINA"?

"'It was made by the Shanghai Aviation Industrial Corporation which has been making stabilizer fasteners for all MD-80 and MD-90 planes for years,' he said. 'It was part of a deal McDonnell-Douglas made with the Chinese so they could sell their aircraft to China.'"

BOEING AND McDONNELL-DOUGLAS ARE LOBBYISTS FOR BEIJING

"McDonnell-Douglas is now part of Boeing, which also has plants in China and is one of the multinational corps beating the drums for passage of the permanent MFN/NTR for their Beijing customer, i.e. the government of the 'Peoples Republic' of China."

CONGRESS AND CLINTON PLACE U.S. CITIZENS IN JEOPARDY TO PLACATE IMPORTERS

"How many other fatal air crashes have been caused by fastener failure or other parts made in China is not known yet. But several other crashes, including the one in Pittsburgh, are now suspected.

"Tommy Grant, who has been studying the growing problem of faulty foreign-made fasteners for years, says the problem is much bigger than the fatalities suffered in airliner crashes. 'It extends to automobiles, building construction, machinery -- virtually all industrial production and literally thousands of products used by consumers,' he states. ...

"The serious threat of unsafe foreign fasteners is being exacerbated by a new law, the Fastener Quality Act, which went into effect December 6, 1999. It replaced a much more stringent quality control act signed into law by then-President George Bush in 1990.

"It is not surprising that Bill Clinton had no compunctions about signing the new law that lightens up fastener inspections of imports. But it is indicative of how tightly fused our two major parties have become on trade that Republicans led the way in getting the law through Congress."

According to John Berlau (Investor's Business Daily, 1/4/00, p. 1), "Of all the global business mergers and alliances, none is likely to have more impact -- or create more controversy -- than the new alliance between the Nasdaq stock market and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.

"The Nasdaq and Hong Kong's exchange plan to have dual listings on each other's markets. Seven American companies, including Microsoft Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. and Dell Computer Corp., are expected to list in Hong Kong in February. ..."

NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED

"But As the partnership goes forward, a host of issues may come into play -- from disclosure of information to investors to national security concerns over the growing influence of the People's Republic of China.

"The Hong Kong exchange's 'set of ties, both direct and indirect, to the Chinese government may require additional due diligence,' said consultant Roger Robinson, a former vice president at Chase Manhattan Bank.

"China, which took control of Hong Kong from Britain in 1997, said in June that it has the right to overturn all Hong Kong laws -- reversing an earlier decision of Hong Kong's highest court. Observers such as Robinson fear this means China will exert more control over Hong Kong's economy in the future, including its financial markets."

WILL THE DATA BE DEPENDABLE?

"Already, the Chinese government has a growing presence on Hong Kong's stock exchange. Forty-three of the exchange's 940 firms are incorporated on the mainland.

"There are even more companies traders call 'red chips' -- offshoots of China's state-owned firms that incorporate in Hong Kong or other countries to raise money for their parents.

"Another big worry: the accounting practices of state-owned firms."

"Britain's Financial Times reported last week that a Chinese government audit of 100 firms showed that 81 had falsified their accounts.

"'The poor quality of accounting in China has undermined the credibility of the stock market and made it more difficult for banks to judge the creditworthiness of prospective clients,' the newspaper said.

"If banks can't judge Chinese state companies, can American investors?

"'Disclosure and transparency represent important questions,' said Robinson. 'It's my impression that the threshold of listing in Hong Kong is somewhat lower than the requirements for listing' in the U.S. ...

"Will the listings from Hong Kong have to comply with disclosure and other rules foreign stocks now have to follow on American exchanges?

"The Securities and Exchange Commission said it doesn't know yet. ..."

"RED CHIP" STOCKS LINKED TO RED ARMY

"Robinson, a former senior official in President Reagan's National Security Council, noted some of the Beijing parent companies of red chips have been implicated as possible U.S. security threats.

"Hong Kong's South China Morning Post found in 1998 that nearly 200 Hong Kong corporations were linked to the Chinese military or China's defense industries.

"At least two companies on the Hong Kong exchange, Continental Mariner Investment Co. and Poly Investment Holdings, were described by the paper as 'arms of (China's) People's Liberation Army.'

"Even some innocent-sounding state companies such as the China Ocean Shipping Company (Cosco) and China Resources, both of which have red chips listed in Hong Kong, have been linked to the Chinese military or spying in congressional reports."

WILL U.S. INVESTORS HELP BEIJING FUND TERRORISM?

"The China National Petroleum Corp., which wants to list on the New York Stock Exchange as early as February, is creating a stir because of its dealing in three countries -- Sudan, Iran and Iraq -- that the U.S. believes are involved in terrorism and has banned most trade with. ...

"But some 200 religious and civic leaders, including former Treasury Secretary William Simon and former Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, still worry that U.S. money will end up funding Sudan's regime.

"'I don't think that there has been the kind of continuing disclosure that allows anyone to say with assurance that funds raised by the China National Petroleum (Corp.) will in no way assist the Sudan pipeline,' Abrams said.

Kenneth R. Timmerman comments (Insight, 1/24/00, p. 44) with regard to the proposed U.S. trade agreement with China:

"Fact No. 1: U.S. markets already are wide open to imports from the PRC, yet the WTO agreement negotiated by Barshefsky is being touted for lowering U.S. as well as Chinese trade barriers.

"U.S. tariffs on Communist Chinese goods entering this country average 5 percent.... This compares to China's average import tariff, which stood at 42.1 percent in the mid-1990s."

BELGIUM AND TAIWAN BUY MORE U.S. GOODS THAN DOES BEIJING

"These lopsided tariffs and trade barriers have led to lopsided U.S. trade deficits with the PRC. In 1998, the last year for which complete figures are available, the trade deficit reached $56.9 billion, according to Barshefsky's own office, while Communist China imported a scant $14.3 billion worth of U.S. goods -- less than Belgium and less than Taiwan, a democratic state which has been a steadfast U.S. ally for 50 years. ..."

IT'S A CHINESE LAUNDRY -- NOT A MARKET

"Fact No. 2: According to a 1997 study by the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, 80 percent of Communist China's imports are incorporated into manufactured goods, which are then reexported to the industrialized world. Only 20 percent of China's imports actually are consumed in China."

CHINAMEN ARE SMART ENOUGH TO BUY CHEAPER CHINESE GOODS

"The United States does a brisk trade in computer chips with China. That counts as a U.S. export. But those chips then are incorporated by Chinese workers, who are paid a fraction of what U.S. workers (or Taiwanese workers) receive, into computers, hard drives and cellular telephones that are then reexported to the United States and to world markets. ...China's best-paid workers - the 200 million or so persons who constitute China's emerging consuming class -- earn an average of less than $600 per year. They will not be buying expensive U.S. consumer goods but will purchase cheaper goods produced in China."

PERMANENT MFN IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

"Fact No. 3: The WTO agreement negotiated by Barshefsky requires the [U.S.] Congress to abdicate its constitutional authority, by granting the PRC permanent 'normal trading relations,' or NTR, status and thus guaranteeing that Congress will not impose economic sanctions on the Chinese government in the future to protest China's notorious violations of internationally recognized standards of human rights, or its dangerous exports of ballistic missiles and nuclear-weapons technologies to states such as Iran, Iraq or Sudan.

"Section 8 of Article I of the U.S. Constitution states this unequivocally: 'The Congress shall have Power...To regulate Commerce with foreign nations...and to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers.' [emphasis added]"

Mary Ellen Lloyd reports for Dow Jones Newswires (Wall Street Journal, 12/13/99, p. A31D) from Charlotte, N.C. that "U.S. textile and apparel producers that are having difficulty competing now will face even tougher times as trade barriers continue to fall, analysts and industry observers say."

FREE TRADE UNDERCUTS FREE LABOR

"Plans to phase out restrictions on apparel and textile imports from China in 2005 -- five years earlier than expected -- will put domestic companies under increased pressure to survive. ...

"The labor-intensive industry will flow to countries with the cheapest labor, he said. Yarn, fiber and fabric producers will eventually follow."

154,500 U.S. JOBS GIVEN TO COMMUNIST CHINA

"But the American Textile Manufacturers Institute believes lifting restrictions on Chinese imports early won't give U.S. producers enough time to prepare for global competition. It estimates the move will cost 154,500 U.S. jobs and $11.6 billion in lost apparel and textile sales."

PROFITS SOAR, PEOPLE SUFFER

"First Union Securities' General Textiles Index of 26 companies was down 43% through November, compared with a 20% year-to-date gain for the S&P's index of 400 midcap stocks. First Union's index of apparel-fabrics companies had fallen 56%, while its Home Fashions Index sagged 35%. ...

"But free trade will mean U.S. job losses in textiles and apparel will continue at a rate of about 5% to 10% a year into 2005 and beyond, said Gary Shoesmith, an economist with Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. ...

"'American companies are going to be profitable,' Mr. Shoesmith said. 'They're just going to employ a lot of foreigners, and their profits will be repatriated.'"

Richard W. Stevenson writes (New York Times, 11/16/99, pp. 1, 10) concerning the Clinton administration's push to win Congressional approval for Communist China's entry into the World Trade Organization that "neither the supporters nor the opponents were taking the outcome for granted, given the volatility of the relationship between the United States and China and the political sensitivity of trade issues heading into an election year."

REPUBLICAN LEADERS PUSH PERMANENT MFN FOR RED CHINA

"'It's going to take an awful lot of work,' said Representative David Dreier, a California Republican who is chairman of the House Rules Committee and a leading advocate of bringing China into the trade group.

"Congress would not vote on the agreement itself, but on whether the United States should permanently grant China normal trading privileges, which is in effect a condition of the deal. Since 1974, Congress has had to vote annually on whether to retain a normal trading relationship with China, a process that critics of China have used to express their displeasure with Beijing."

U.S.-BASED RED CHINA PROFITEERS WILL GO ALL OUT FOR WTO

"Eager to win greater access to the huge market in China -- and stung by criticism that they had been ineffectual in rallying support for past trade votes -- business groups promised an all-out campaign to get the deal enacted.

"'We were asked by the administration if we could deliver the votes,' said L. Craig Johnstone, senior vice president for international economic and national security affairs at the United States Chamber of Commerce. 'We said we could and we will.'

"Many industries -- commercial banking, auto and aircraft manufacturing, farming and food processing, investment banking, electronics, money management, filmmaking -- hailed the agreement today as an opportunity to expand rapidly into the giant Chinese market. ..."

ROHRABACHER LEADS THE OPPOSITION

"Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California, said the agreement was a 'raw deal' for workers and consumers because it would institutionalize tariff advantages held by China.

"'On top of that, we'd be putting our stamp of approval on having a gangster regime coming into yet another international body and thinking that in some way that body is going to civilize the regime,' he said, 'when in fact it's more likely that the organization itself will be corrupted by having the world's worst human rights violator in its midst.'

"Administration officials said they would press hard to get the deal approved, probably in the first few months of next year. ...

"The Business Roundtable, which represents the country's largest corporations, has readied a plan to tout the benefits of the deal in 71 key Congressional districts. In Iowa, for instance, the group has hired a political organizer, Bill Menner, to get businesses and interest groups working on behalf of the agreement. ...

"The Business Roundtable also plans to run newspaper advertising in Iowa emphasizing the economic benefits the deal would bring to farmers and other groups."

John Broder notes (New York Times, 11/16/99, p. A10) that "Gov. George W. Bush of Texas and Senator John McCain of Arizona gave qualified endorsements of the trade deal, saying that bringing China into the global trading scheme would help moderate its economic and political behavior. ...

"The two Democratic candidates, Vice President Al Gore and former Senator Bill Bradley, applauded the trade agreement, although aides said that Mr. Bradley would reserve final judgment until he had a chance to study its terms. Both candidates are seeking a way to embrace free trade with China while not alienating important Democratic constituencies -- including organized labor and some human rights advocates -- who oppose it. ..."

BAUER AND FORBES OPPOSE PERMANENT TRADE ADVANTAGES FOR RED CHINA

"'The more heated debate will be within the Republican Party,' said Gary Bauer, a Republican presidential candidate and vehement opponent of the trade deal. 'There will be a Reagan wing making my argument, and the trade wing -- the Bush wing -- unfortunately siding with Clinton and Gore on this.'

"Mr. Bush said in a statement that he has consistently supported membership of China in the World Trading [sic] Organization, a position also advocated by his father, former President Bush. ...

"Mr. Forbes, a millionaire magazine publisher who is largely financing his own campaign, said last week in a speech on China policy that he strongly opposes allowing China to join the global trade group."

FORBES BACKS TAIWAN FOR WTO

"'Let me be clear,' Mr. Forbes said in an address at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, Calif.: 'Yes to Taiwan in the W.T.O. No to China. Beijing hasn't earned it, and we shouldn't give it. Period. It is time for our government to reward freedom and democracy -- not force and demagoguery -- and let us never forget it.' ..."

AFL-CIO IS RIGHT, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IS WRONG

"John Sweeney, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. president, criticized the agreement as a 'grave mistake' and accused the administration of being 'disgustingly hypocritical' in claiming that trade deals help to moderate Chinese behavior."

On Monday, November 29, I was in Seattle to challenge pro-WTO assertions made by former Christian Coalition Executive Director Randy Tate (previously a member of Congress from Washington state) and leaders of the Washington State GOP, operating under the auspices of an entity called "Working Families for Free Trade".

This ad hoc organization seeks to "demonstrate that Christians and conservatives are pragmatic and understand the relationship between trade and missions opportunities in foreign countries. Fostering trade is good for Seattle and it's also the right thing to do."

WTO UNDERMINES POLITICAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT

In personal conversation with Mr. Tate, and in interviews with several Seattle-based television and radio stations, I offered the following counter-argument: "America's Founding Fathers risked their lives to advance the principle of self-determination and to secure the right to local self-government.

SUPPORTERS OF WTO REJECT "CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED"

"Their Declaration of Independence acknowledged that we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights. They proclaimed that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed, because each of us has an obligation to our Creator and a duty of stewardship to His sovereignty.

WTO IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

"That's why the very first sentence of the U.S. Constitution, after the preamble, asserts clearly that all legislative powers shall be vested in a Congress of the United States. Article I, Section 8 requires that Congress shall regulate commerce with foreign nations.

TO WHOM DOES CONGRESS REPORT: GLOBAL BUREAUCRATS OR THEIR OWN CONSTITUENCIES?

"It is Biblically and morally wrong for members of Congress to abandon their oaths to the Constitution and surrender their responsibility for trade policy to a global bureaucracy. Congress must be accountable to the American people and to the sovereign Lord whom we are all bound to serve."

Supporting me in opposition to U.S. membership in the WTO and permanent MFN status for Red China were Pat Choate, Co-Chairman of the Buchanan for President Campaign; Eric Licht, President, Coalition for America; and Kevin Kearns, President, United States Business and Industry Council.

The news conference in behalf of The Conservative Caucus and other WTO foes was emceed by Stan Emert of the Hope Heart Institute, and featured Brian Derdowski, a Metropolitan King County Councilman, as well as by Kathy Radamaker and Karl Sturz of the Reform Party.

The American Coalition for Competitive Trade (216 Georgetown Court, 3220 N Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20007) points out (Vol. XI, No. 12, December 1999) that "At the WTO super trade summit in Seattle the first week of the last month of the 20th Century the stage was all pre-set for honoring China by welcoming the belligerent moloch [moloch: something demanding great sacrifices] into this increasingly powerful world body marching toward control of the global economy.

"The primary prop for this dangerous charade was the agreement the U.S. and China reached in Beijing in mid-November on the 'conditions' for WTO membership. Actually there were no conditions as such. Only a massive sell-out by U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky and her team.

"Billed as a great boon for American farmers, China will only lower its tariffs on agricultural products by a [minuscule] one-half percent -- from 15% to 14.5%! But U.S. banks will be able to pour their American depositors money into China's bottomless pit via 'services' in local currency. And our auto companies will be graciously permitted to make car loans to Chinese customers.

"Foreign investment companies will be allowed minority stakes up to 49% in Chinese firms. This includes foreign phone companies which will now go in and build modern telecommunications systems in China. In short, the U.S. and other Western countries, plus Japan and other developed nations, will have the great [privilege] of building China into a superpower."

By a margin of 150 to 71 (Roll Call no. 338, 260-170, 7/27/99) House Republicans voted to support Bill Clinton's extension of Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) status for Red China, which status results in a transfer of wealth from the American economy to the Chinese economy amounting to more than $60 billion per year.

The U.S.-derived resources secured to Communist China's command economy redound, directly and indirectly, to the advantage of Beijing's People's Liberation Army (PLA) and to the disadvantage of the national security of the United States.

GOP LEADERS TURN A BLIND EYE TO COMMUNIST THREAT

Ninety-eight Democrats opposed MFN for Red China, as against 110 who supported it. The lone independent, Bernard Sanders, voted against MFN.

HASTERT, ARMEY, DAVIS, DeLAY, LARGENT, McCULLOM, WATTS BUY INTO "FREE TRADE" FANTASY

The 150 Republicans who voted with Clinton and against America's best interests were:

KEY CONTRIBUTORS PUSH FOR MFN

Eric Schmitt points out (New York Times, 7/28/99, p. A4) concerning House approval of MFN for China that "the critics never gained much traction, buffeted by an intensive lobbying campaign of business groups like the United States Chamber of Commerce and corporations with interests in China like General Motors, Boeing and Kodak. ..."

WTO MEMBERSHIP FOR RED CHINA WOULD MEAN PERMANENT MFN

"'China's accession to the World Trade Organization is the next key step, and one we hope Congress will take promptly, once a final market-opening trade agreement is reached,' Dana G. Mead, chairman of Tenneco and of the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executives, said in a statement."

For many years liberals accused "conservatives" of "being in bed" with Big Business, but, clearly, Big Business in America today is anything but "conservative". For example, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has become a lapdog for Communism in China, for which it favors MFN status, and in Cuba, where it is enamored of tyrant Fidel Castro.

According to The Washington Post (7/17/99, p. E2), "U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas J. Donohue said yesterday that a visit to Cuba by members of the business group opens the door to further communications with the island nation's small corps of entrepreneurs."

"CAPITALISM" AND COMMUNISM ARE NOT THE ISSUE --- IT'S CORPORATE GREED COMPROMISING U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY

"Donohue, who just returned from a three-day visit that included a nearly seven-hour meeting with Cuban President Fidel Castro, said he doesn't expect Cuba to embrace capitalism, noting that the handful of private businesses there were created purely out of economic necessity. ...

"The visit by Donohue, whose organization represents 3 million U.S. businesses, was granted a license by the Clinton administration....

"Trade with Cuba has been embargoed for 37 years. The chamber and other business interests have called for ending unilateral trade embargoes against Cuba and other nations, and Donohue reiterated the call to ease trade relations with Cuba yesterday. 'The appropriate time is now,' he said. ..."

CASTRO CHARMS BUSINESS WHORE WHO HAILS FIDEL'S STRONG "CONVICTIONS"

"Donohue, who was clearly charmed by Castro, described the Cuban leader as 'a very smart person and very strong in his convictions.'"

John Kruger points out (The Hill, 6/2/99, p. 1) that "Rep. Chris Cox (R-Calif.), chairman of the China investigation panel, and other panelists once urged relaxation of export controls on high-performance computers, a move 180 degrees opposite the panel's recommendation.

"Cox co-sponsored two bills in 1993 designed to increase the thresholds on computer exports and ease licensing restrictions.

"The legislative proposals were part of a campaign waged by many members of Congress to help the high-tech industry and the foundering California economy in the early 1990s. Members wrote several letters in late 1993 pressing the administration to review export policies on computers, satellite technology and other products. ..."

COX FAVORED TECHNOLOGY TRANSFERS TO CHINESE REDS

"One bill Cox sponsored was the Computer Equipment and Technology Export Control Reform Act, sought in part to ease export licensing requirements for supercomputers and the performance levels of software, parts and communications."

DOES WHERE HE STANDS DEPEND ON WHERE HE SITS?

"Cox's report criticized administration policies in the mid-1990s for relaxing export restrictions on 'high-performance computers,' or HPCs, capable of performing billions of computations each second.

"'The U.S. government, citing rapid advances in computer technology, has steadily relaxed export controls on HPCs,' the report states. 'The Select Committee judges that [China] is almost certain to use HPCs to perform nuclear weapons applications.' ...

"Transferring such computers could contribute to the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction, missiles and other weapons and support other military objectives, the report warned."

Brian Mitchell explains (Investor's Business Daily, 4/15/99, p. A1) that "The Chinese call it 'guan-xi' (pronounced gwan-she). Americans might call it access or entree.

"It's the personal relationship between influential people that opens doors and make things possible. In a socialist oligarchy like China, guan-xi is the key to everything -- business as well as politics."

THE ULTIMATE CONFLICT OF INTEREST: SWITCHING FROM DEFENDER OF THE AMERICAN NATION TO ADVOCATE FOR AMERICA'S ADVERSARIES

"In a capitalist democracy like the U.S. guan-xi is a gold mine for former secretaries of state and other ex-officials, whose contacts in China are in great demand by American businesses.

"It's also a future gold mine for current officials, who may someday join the growing pro-China business lobby, if they can avoid offending Chinese leaders."

MOTIVATED BY PUBLIC SERVICE OR PRIVATE COMMERCE?

"Critics worry that such interests unduly influence U.S. thinking about China, causing policy-makers to down-play Chinese threats and equate U.S. interests with Chinese aims.

"'There's an increasing corruption in Washington in foreign policy, where commercial interests are taking the higher priority, and where people go in and out of government and into the K Street lobbies,' said a senior foreign policy official in the Reagan administration.

"'The problem is that so many of these business interests don't give a darn about U.S. national security,' he said...."

RED CHINA IS PRINCIPAL BENEFICIARY OF INSIDER INFLUENCE

"Exports to China have more than doubled since 1991, while imports from China have nearly quadrupled. Imports from China amounted to $71 billion last year. That's 7.8% of all U.S. imports.

"China ranked fourth in imports to the U.S. in 1998, after Canada (19.1%), Japan (13.3%) and Mexico (10.3%)...."

RED CHINA'S "HUMAN RIGHTS" RECORD WHITEWASHED?

"The State Department's 1998 report on human rights in Yugoslavia accuses it of many of the same abuses. Not included, though, are slave labor, forced abortion, forced sterilization and trafficking in women and children.

"'Otherwise, it would be hard without a label to tell which country was which if you just read the reports,' said William Hawkins, an aide to Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif."

YUGOSLAVIA IS NOT A FAVORED NATION, BUT CHICOMS HAVE PURLOINED PROTECTION

"China has committed military and commercial espionage against the U.S. and poses an expansionistic threat to Taiwan and other neighbors. Yet the administration welcomed China's Prime Minister Zhu Rongji to Washington and still wants China to join the WTO...."

KISSINGER, HAIG, SHULTZ, EAGLEBURGER, VANCE ARE ON THE TAKE

"Consider the case of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who was responsible for the thaw in U.S.-China relations that culminated in Nixon's visit to China in 1972.

"Since leaving government service, Kissinger has operated a lucrative consulting business, Kissinger Associates, often using his China contacts to open doors for American businessmen.

"He was also involved in a limited partnership called China Ventures, which invested in joint ventures with a company owned by the Chinese government."

IS KISSINGER'S "WISDOM" FOR SALE?

"At the same time, Kissinger has continued to comment publicly and advise government officials on U.S.-China relations. After the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Kissinger, as a paid consultant for ABC News, advised against imposing economic sanctions on China.

"Since then, Kissinger has consistently opposed linking China's trade status with the U.S. to its record on human rights. He is also chairman of the America-China Society. Cyrus Vance, President Carter's secretary of state, is co-chairman."

IS THIS WHAT THEY MEAN BY A "BIPARTISAN FOREIGN POLICY"?

"Other ex-secretaries of state active in representing companies with businesses in China are Alexander Haig, George Shultz and Lawrence Eagleburger.

"Shultz is on the board of Bechtel Corp., a construction company with interest in more than 60 projects in China, including two nuclear power plants. Eagleburger has done consulting work for Kissinger Associates, as has Brent Scowcroft, President Bush's former national security adviser.

"Haig has assisted several companies in their dealings with China, including United Technologies Corp., which builds jet engines, helicopters and aerospace systems, and International Signal & Control Group, which sold weapons fuses to China."

DECISIONS IN OFFICE CREATE OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR

"Haig's ties to China go back to his days as chief of staff under President Nixon. As President Reagan's first secretary of state, he was responsible for the Chinese-American Joint Communiqué, committing the U.S. to the eventual reunification of Taiwan and the mainland.

"Haig has actively lobbied members of Congress for favorable trade relations with China. He has served as an editorial adviser to China's 'Official Guide' for American businesses, and he is a member of the honorary board for the U.S.-China Policy Foundation.

"'None of these former secretaries of state can truly say they're speaking as elder statesmen in the national interest, because they're on Beijing's payroll, directly or indirectly,' said the senior Reagan administration official."

DEMOCRATS DO IT TOO

"Analysts find the dealings of former Defense Secretary William Perry even more troubling. Perry's ties to China date from his days in the Carter Pentagon. Later, in Clinton's Pentagon, he presided over the dismantling of controls on the transfer of sensitive military technology to China.

"'He was [the] man who invented the game. It wasn't happening before Perry, and he is single-handedly responsible for what's going on, after Clinton,' said Ken Timmerman, director of the Middle East Data Project, who has written several articles on China's acquisition of military technology.

"Perry is now Clinton's special envoy to North Korea. He is also on the board of both United Technologies and Boeing Corp. Boeing's airplane sales to China now total $18.5 billion.

"Perry's close friend and colleague, Stanford University international studies Professor John Wilson Lewis, has partnered with a subsidiary of the People's Liberation Army to sell sophisticated telecom equipment to China. Timmerman says Perry helped Lewis get Pentagon permission for the sale...."

U.S.-BASED CORPORATIONS IN CHINA DON'T PUT AMERICA FIRST

"Companies with substantial dealings with China include Boeing, Motorola Inc., AlliedSignal Inc., United Technologies and AT&T Corp.

"Several key trade groups also back stronger U.S.-China business ties, including the National Association of Manufacturers, National Association of Retailers, U.S.-China Business Council and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"'I'm not saying they're paid lobbyists, but I can tell you this, the Chinese damn well expect them to go out and push the cause,' [former U.S. Ambassador to China James] Lilley said. 'This has been true right from the beginning to do business in China. It comes with the territory. "You do business, you sing our tune."'"

"Unless changes are made when talks resume in Beijing this month, the United States may not be able, once China is in the W.T.O., to restrict Chinese imports in response to threats toward Taiwan, human rights violations in Tibet or religious persecution."

WTO MEMBERSHIP FOR RED CHINA WOULD PRECLUDE PEACEFUL PRESSURES

"If we did so, China could complain to a dispute-settlement body within the organization that the United States had violated several of its rules, including the "most-favored-nation" principle, which prevents us from discriminating against the imports of any particular member of the W.T.O. ...

"So what lever would the United States have against China if, for example, it truly menaced Taiwan? Without sanctions and other economic penalties, we might be forced to resort to more drastic approaches, like military intervention....

"[Red China's] leaders view economics the same way they view defense, foreign policy or human rights. It is a means of expanding the power of the state and maintaining control of its population.

"Since the Administration made clear its intention to separate economic from other issues, China's behavior has taken an alarming turn for the worse, virtually across the board....a classified report by the Department of Defense to Congress on security issues in the Taiwan Strait has concluded that China has installed a bristling array of missiles pointed at Taiwan, with many more on the way.

"Backed by naval forces, it has also staked out an aggressive claim to the Paracel and Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. These islands lie as far as 1,000 miles south of China. They are close to virtually every ally of the United States in Southeast Asia and would give the Chinese a powerful platform from which to intimidate those countries, as well as Japan and Korea, whose principal sea lanes run straight through the area.

"China is also reported to have helped North Korea build a new three-stage rocket that could soon give that country the ability to launch nuclear missiles at Alaska, Hawaii and eventually the West Coast....

"Likewise, China's behavior on human rights issues has deteriorated significantly...."

IS IT APPEASEMENT OR QUID PRO QUO?

"Until now, those countries that were viewed as potentially hostile to the United States were not members of the World Trade Organization, did not export anything of consequence to us, or both. China is entirely different in this respect. If the Clinton Administration is unwilling to recognize this fact, Congress should insure that this White House does not deprive future Presidents of the right to do so."

According to The New York Times (4/17/99, p. B1), "Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve chairman, waded into the escalating debate over trade policy today, denouncing growing protectionist pressures and arguing that pockets of workers sometimes had to suffer in order for the nation to prosper....

"Mr. Greenspan's influence could be of substantial help to the Clinton Administration as it seeks to complete a deal with China and win Congressional approval for the [World Trade Organization] pact...."

FED CHIEF BACKS FREE CHINA POLICY

"As seen by Mr. Greenspan, the effects of trade on workers and companies is part of an all-but-unstoppable cycle of 'creative destruction.' In his view, a vibrant economy remakes itself constantly by giving up on activities that some other country can do more cheaply to take advantage of new opportunities.

"'It would be a great tragedy were we to stop the wheels of progress because of an incapacity to assist the victims of progress,' Mr. Greenspan said."

PROFIT OR PATRIOTISM: THAT'S THE ISSUE ON CHINA TRADE POLICY

The Washington Times (3/15/99, p. 1) reports "Lawmakers of both parties are working with increased vigor to deny favorable trading access for China to U.S. markets and to block its admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) — China's top international economic goal. Both moves could raise the costs of China's goods sold in the United States."

WILL GOP BACK CLINTON ON WTO MEMBERSHIP FOR RED CHINA?

"‘It is simply unthinkable that we reward China with WTO when it is clear that they have an aggressive weapons modernization program,’ said Sen. Tim Hutchinson, Arkansas Republican. ‘The spy scandal is the biggest breach of American security since the Rosenbergs.’...

"Mr. Hutchinson has drafted a bill that would require Congress to approve of China's admission to the WTO, an idea that is gathering support. He hopes to bring it up before Congress leaves for its Easter break at the end of this month.

"Democratic House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt is working with Rep. David E. Bonior, Michigan Democrat, on a similar measure on the House side...."

MFN GIVES $57 BILLION PAY-OFF TO COMMUNIST CRIMINALS

"Among the critics' complaints about China: its $57 billion annual trade surplus with the United States; its closed markets to many U.S. goods and services; its reported sales of nuclear and missile technology to rogue states; its aggressive posture toward Taiwan; its repeated crackdowns on political dissidents; and its expansionist aims in the strategic South China Sea...."

GOP SPEAKER HASTERT IS IN HOCK TO THE CHINA BUSINESS LOBBY

GOP House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert has signaled that he is likely to side with U.S. business interests, which favor working with China, as did his predecessor, Newt Gingrich....

"The Clinton administration has been negotiating with China on that country's admission to the WTO. After traveling to China earlier this month, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that there is a ‘good chance’ for progress."

WTO MEMBERSHIP WOULD PREVENT U.S. FROM DENYING MFN STATUS

"Joining the WTO would lower tariffs for China's exports and offer it significant protection from trade sanctions that the United States or other major trading partners might impose."

Excerpted from Howard Phillips Issues & Strategy Bulletin of December 31, 1998

LENIN-STYLE "NEW ECONOMIC POLICY" WILL NOT ERADICATE COMMUNISM IN CHINA ANY MORE THAN IT DID IN RUSSIA

The Washington Times (12/19/98, p. A14) reports "China will spurn Western-style democracy and crush all threats to Communist Party rule as it moves ahead with economic reforms, President Jiang Zemin said yesterday as officials announced they would put a third dissident on trial for subversion."

POLICIES MAY CHANGE, BUT POWER SHALL NOT BE SURRENDERED

"‘The system must not be shaken, weakened or discarded at any time,’ Mr. Jiang told 6,000 members of the political elite in a speech to mark 20 years of successful economic reforms. ‘The Western mode of political systems must never be copied.’..."

POLITICAL LIBERTY IS NOT AN OPTION

"Mr. Jiang's speech yesterday did not appear to set out any new policies or a vision for the future but repeatedly vowed to uphold the ‘Communist Party line.’

"Yesterday marks the 20th anniversary of a pivotal Communist Party meeting on Dec. 18-22, 1978, that initiated the current era of pragmatic economic reforms, marking a shift from class struggle to the pursuit of modernization."

"Reuters continues, Aaron's comments reflect a growing alarm in Washington that China's trade surplus was expected to jump 20 percent this year, as China makes up for losses in sales to financially stricken Asia by [increasing export subsidies to its companies and] selling more to the U.S. market....As evidence that China has closed its markets even more tightly, Aaron cited Beijing's plan to curb imports of power plant equipment and its expected imposition of price controls that discriminate against U.S. pharmaceuticals and other goods."