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Chinese
Company Continues to Encircle the World
Phil Brennan
Wednesday, June 13,
2001
source: http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/6/12/210339.shtml
A huge, multibillion-dollar company closely tied to the Chinese
army has set up operations in ports all around the world.
From Panama to the Philippines, an arm of Hutchison-Whampoa,
Hutchison Port Holding (HPH), has become the world’s largest
seaport operator, embedding itself in strategic seaports all
across the globe.
Hutchison holds the exclusive contract to operate the Panama
Canal.
An animated map on the Hutchison-Whampoa Web site shows the
extent of the encircling movement with seaport operations in
Africa (Tanzania International Terminal Services Ltd.) in the
Western Hemisphere with seaport services in Beunos Aires,
Argentina; Freeport, the Bahamas; Veracruz, Mexico; and at both
ends of the Panama Canal.
HPH’s latest acquisition, announced last month, involved
eight Philippine ports. New ports in Mexico, Argentina, Saudi
Arabia, Pakistan, Tanzania and Thailand make Hutchision-Whampoa
the world’s largest private port operator with 23 cargo berths,
bringing its worldwide total of ports to a staggering 136.
Other ports include Jakarta, Indonesia; Karachi, Pakistan;
India (where the company runs the cellular phone services); Burma;
China; and Malaysia. There are port operations in Britain at
Harwich, Felixstowe (Britain’s largest port), and Thamesport,
and in the Netherlands at Rotterdam. The last acquisition has
caused alarm at the European Commission.
According to the latest reports, the company is interested in
locating at South Korea’s largest port, Pusan, and has finalized
an agreement to operate out of Kwangyang, another South Korean
port.
The company boasts of its worldwide scope on its Web site:
"The World of Hutchison Port Holdings covers a broad spectrum
of port operations and related service companies spanning the
entire globe. With operations and services ranging from container
ports, mid-stream operations and river trade to cruise terminals,
warehousing, haulage and e-commerce companies, HPH has become a
key provider of comprehensive logistics services for the global
supply chain.”
Just what is Hutchison-Whampoa?
According to a 1999 investigative report by the American
Foreign Policy Council, "Hutchison Whampoa, through its
Hutchison International Terminals [HIT] subsidiary or Panama Ports
Company, has substantial links to the Chinese communist government
and the People's Liberation Army.
"The Panama Ports Company is 10 percent owned by China
Resources Enterprise [CRE], which is the commercial arm of China's
Ministry of Trade and Economic Co-operation. In its investigation
into China's attempts to influence the 1996 U.S. presidential
campaign, the U.S. Senate Government Affairs Committee identified
CRE as a conduit for ‘espionage - economic, political and
military - for China.’ Committee Chairman Senator Fred Thompson
said that CRE has ‘geopolitical purposes. Kind of like a smiling
tiger; it might look friendly, but it's very dangerous.’”
Sen. Trent Lott has described the Hong Kong firm as "an
arm of the People's Liberation Army."
The company is headed by a Li Ka-Shing, the chairman of
Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. Intelligence sources say he has deep
connections with the Chinese Communist government.
"Li has invested more than a billion dollars in China and
owns most of the dock space in Hong Kong. In an exclusive deal
with the People's Republic of China's communist government, Li has
the right of first refusal over all PRC ports south of the Yangtze
river, which involves a close working relationship with the
Chinese military and businesses controlled by the People's
Liberation Army,” the AFP report stated.
"Li has served as a middle man for PLA business dealings
with the West. For example, Li financed several satellite deals
between the U.S. Hughes Corporation and China Hong Kong Satellite
[CHINASAT], a company owned by the People's Liberation Army. In
1997 Li Ka-Shing and the Chinese Navy nearly obtained four huge
roll-on/roll-off container ships, which can be used for
transporting military cargo, in a deal that would have been
financed by U.S. taxpayers.”
According to the Thompson Committee, Hutchison Whampoa's
subsidiary, HIT, has "business ventures with the China Ocean
Shipping Company(COSCO) which is owned by the People's Liberation
Army.”
COSCO, which failed in a notorious Clinton-backed attempt to
lease the former U.S. Naval base in Long Beach, Calif., has been
criticized for shipping Chinese missiles, missile components, jet
fighters and other weapons technologies to nations such as Libya,
Iraq, Iran and Pakistan, the AFP report revealed.
"In 1996, the U.S. Customs Service seized a shipment of
2,000 automatic weapons aboard a COSCO ship at the port of
Oakland, California. The man identified as the arms dealer, Wang
Jun, is the head of China's Polytechnologies Company, the
international outlet for Chinese weapons sales. Jun also sits on
the Board of CITIC, China International Trust and Investment
Corporation, the chief investment arm of the Chinese central
government. It is also the bank of the People's Liberation Army,
providing financing for Chinese Army weapons sales and for the
purchase of Western technology.”
Li is also a board member of CITIC. U.S. intelligence sources
have described the company as a front for China's governmental
State Council.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., has stated that CITIC has been
used as a front company by China's military to acquire technology
for weapons development.
Last year a report
by NewsMax.com.’s Christopher Ruddy and Stephan Archer noted
that a declassified report by the U.S. Southern Command's Joint
Intelligence Center, prepared in October 1999 and obtained by the
government watchdog Judicial Watch, said that "Hutchison
Whampoa's owner, Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-Shing, has extensive
business ties in Beijing and has compelling financial reasons to
maintain a good relationship with China's leadership."
The military intelligence report also warns that
"Hutchison containerized shipping facilities in the Panama
Canal, as well as the Bahamas, could provide a conduit for illegal
shipments of technology or prohibited items from the West to the
PRC, or facilitate the movement of arms and other prohibited items
into the Americas."
Adm. Thomas Moorer, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, has noted that "the Chinese have always indicated that
the proper way to fight a war was not to make a frontal assault
but rather to get around behind the enemy and cut off all their
supplies.”
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