Look what I found in my files!
Li Ka-Shing Seeks U.S. Contract
Charles R. Smith
Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2002
Hutchison Whampoa Teams With U.S. Defense Firm for Port Security
Hutchison Whampoa, the firm that currently runs both ends of the Panama Canal, is teaming up with an American technology company in a bid to win tens of millions of dollars in U.S. port security funding.
Three companies – Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., PSA Corp. Ltd. of Singapore, and London-based P&O Ports – will test an advanced electronic system manufactured by California-based Savi Technology to ensure the security of cargo entering U.S. ports. Hutchison Whampoa's effort to obtain a U.S. government contract has been confirmed by Savi Technology, the American partner in the joint venture.
"We are working with Hutchison and the port of Seattle on a pilot project," stated Savi's Senior Vice President for the Public Sector Ken Wykle.
"The pilot with Hutchison is intended to track cargo from Hong Kong to Seattle. Once the pilot project is complete, we will seek federal funding.
"We also have two other pilot projects – one with PSA, which will track cargo from Singapore to Seattle, and a follow-on with P&O, which will track cargo from Rotterdam to the New York and New Jersey ports," stated Wykle.
The three shipping companies are putting up seed money for the pilot phase of the project. However, there is a great potential for U.S. government contract funding, including $28 million in emergency funds already appropriated by Congress for port security and an additional $83 million in annual port security grants being considered in Congress.
RFID Tracking Technology
Savi already produces an electronic system called RFID, or "radio frequency ID," that transmits the exact location of any tagged cargo. The RFID system has been purchased by the U.S. Defense Department to track critical cargo shipments around the world.
Yet intelligence sources have confirmed that the Chinese army is also very interested in the RFID technology. The sources confirmed that the same technology has been examined by the PLA for use as a "poor man's smart bomb." The tracking devices can be rigged to detonate a hidden explosive device or release chemical weapons only when they have arrived at their intended destination.
Li Ka-Shing & Communist Chinese in Business
The bid by Hutchison Whampoa to acquire U.S. government funding is also expected to run into heavy opposition inside Congress. The owner of Hutchison Whampoa, Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-Shing, is well known to be very close to the Chinese communist government. Li is reportedly in business with Chinese President Jiang Zemin's son, developing properties in Tiananmen Square.
For example, Li Ka-Shing is so close to the Chinese government that the Clinton White House gave his bio, along with the bio of the entire top communist Chinese leadership, to the CEO of Loral Aerospace, Bernard Schwartz, just prior to the 1994 Ron Brown trade trip to Beijing. Li was the only civilian in the bios given to the million-dollar DNC donor.
Li apparently did have a great deal of interest in U.S. space technology. He has served as a middleman for PLA satellite purchases. 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 unit COSTIND.
Besides buying satellites for the PLA, in 1997 Li Ka-Shing and the Chinese navy nearly obtained four huge roll-on/roll-off container ships from America. These ships were intended to transport PLA military cargo. The ships were part of a multimillion-dollar deal that would have been financed by U.S. taxpayers.
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. Li Ka-Shing has invested more than a billion dollars in China and owns most of the dock space in Hong Kong.
Red Chinese Panama Canal Deal
Li Ka-Shing currently owns both the Pacific and Atlantic ports on the Panama Canal. A Senate Committee on Foreign Relations staff report on the privatization of the Panamanian ports dated May 14, 1997, identified Hutchison's subsidiary HIT, or Panama Ports Company, as being 10 percent owned by China Resources Enterprise (CRE), which is the commercial arm of China's "Ministry of Trade and Economic Co-operation."
During the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee hearings, the South China Morning Post on July 16, 1997, quoted Sen. Fred Thompson as saying China Resources was "an agent of espionage – economic, military, and political – for China."
COSCO and Li Ka-Shing
Li Ka-Shing's official business partner is the national flag carrier of Beijing, the Chinese Ocean Shipping Company, also known as COSCO. According to a 1998 congressional report on Chinese espionage, there is "information" that then-President Clinton did not allow to be made public on COSCO.
"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," stated the report that was written by the House Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare.
Li Ka-Shing attempted to purchase the military port of Long Beach, Calif., for COSCO but failed after the U.S. Department of Defense raised national security concerns over the proposed sale.
A June 1997 Rand report, "Chinese Military Commerce and U.S. National Security," stated, "Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong, controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka Shing, is also negotiating for PLA wireless system contracts, which would build upon his equity interest in PLA arms company Poly Tech-owned Yangpu Land Development Company, which is building infrastructure on China's Hainan Island."
$35 Million Into U.S. Firm From Offshore
It is not known if the U.S. partner of Li Ka-Shing, Savi Technology, is aware of the billionaire's close working relationship with the Chinese government or the joint ventures that Hutchison Whampoa has with the Chinese army.
However, Savi received a $35 million investment in June 2002 from a Singapore-based firm just prior to announcing the joint effort with Hutchison. How the sudden influx of offshore monies will affect Savi's U.S. Defense contract status is also not known.
Li Ka-Shing Testifies Before Congress
According to the former prosecutor and executive director of the Canadian Police Association, Li Ka-Shing's Hutchison Whampoa seeking U.S. government funding for port security raises serious national security and law enforcement questions.
"I'd like to suggest that the appropriate congressional committee hold hearings into this important issue and that they call Li Ka-Shing as the first witness," stated Scott Newark, who is currently a special security adviser to the government of Ontario.
"I volunteer to be second, but frankly, there are people far more knowledgeable than me in this regard, including, for example, the International Association of Airport and Seaport Police, which just held their conference in NYC. As a speaker at that conference, I urged ridding ports of such crime and rogue government-connected companies not making them the local constabulary.
"There is no question that Hutchison Whampoa is a commercial maritime interest with great experience in port operations matters. Given the seriousness of what's at stake, it is obvious that this request should be considered seriously and result in full scrutiny of the current holdings and business relationships of Hutchison Whampoa and any history of activity that would raise concerns in relation to any or all of the above issues," said Newark.
According to Newark, there are five critical issues at stake: preventing smuggling of drugs, guns and people; preventing export of stolen products; providing site security as a result of 9-11; preventing terrorism-related smuggling; and preventing terrorist attacks on ships leaving ports.
Full Scrutiny of Hutchison Whampoa
"We need full scrutiny of the principals of Hutchison Whampoa and all of their business- or government-related associations and any history of any activity of them or their associates – including links to organized crime and terrorist groups, activities or states supporting the same – that would raise concerns to any of the above," stated Newark.
"We should give full scrutiny to any relationship of Hutchison Whampoa, its partners, directors or officers with any foreign government that would raise concerns to any or all of the above issues," noted Newark.
"Further, our Parliament is currently considering a bill that, among other things, provides a framework for port security requirements. I have already been approached to testify, and in light of this alarming development I will now specifically raise this issue and urge our government to ensure the same careful and public scrutiny of this company, its principals and their murky connections as I have here," concluded Newark.
In closing, remember COSCO at the Port of Long Beach and
their plans to expand to 400 to 500 acres in the near
future.