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http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n14_v13/ai_19329282/print
U.S. turns a blind eye as China hits the beach - Cosco leases former US Navy Base in Long Beach, CA
Duncan L. Hunter

It was bad enough when citizens recently learned that the Marine Corps would have to step aside so that the former U.S.. Navy base at Long Beach could be leased to the China Ocean Shipping Company, or Cosco. Then the Washington Times reported that another Chinese firm closely associated with Cosco, Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., has been awarded control of two ports that sit astride the Panama Canal.

These deals represent the crossing of two unsettling trends. One is the economic growth of China: Beijing’s $40 billion trade surplus with the United States, which is used to fund China’s military expansion, is the fodder of policy wonks. The advance of China’s red flag into California and Panama, however, is something the average citizen cannot miss.

The second trend is the downsizing of America’s position in the world, as demonstrated by base closings and the withdrawal from areas such as the Panama Canal. The Clinton administration has pushed deep defense cuts and military withdrawals, claiming the country no longer can afford to maintain the strength it possessed only a few years ago. Yet, Clinton thinks we can afford to transfer billions in trade deficits, investments and technology to the communist regime in China to build up its power.

Cosco is not a private enterprise. It is an arm of the Chinese government and an auxiliary to the People’s Liberation Army (see “PLA Espionage Means Business,” March 24). When Polytechnologies, the division of the PLA’s general staff department which handles gun-running operations, tried to smuggle 2,000 AK-47 fully-automatic assault rifles into Los Angeles for sale to street gangs, Cosco naturally was chosen as the shipping line to deliver the goods.

Shipbuilding and shipping long have been designated as a strategic industry in China. Major powers always have backed their maritime industries for more than just economic reasons. One must assume Cosco and Hutchison, as government agents, will carry out whatever policies are decided upon by the communist Beijing regime.

Chinese control of a 135-acre terminal in Long Beach would pose a number of security threats to the United States. The terminal obviously would become a center for Chinese espionage on the West Coast. And it also would give the Chinese a stable, high-powered listening post for the interception of communications throughout California and beyond.

The Chinese would know every move the U.S. military makes and could monitor training exercises as well as operational deployments. Beijing also could develop ways to interrupt, neutralize or mislead the command, control and communications networks upon which our military operations depend.

Further, the terminal will support espionage agents working the rich industrial and technological fields of the West Coast. If the conflicting interests of the United States and China ever lead to a confrontation, these spies will become saboteurs. During last year’s crisis in the Taiwan Straits, a Chinese official told an American diplomat that Washington should not interfere with Beijing’s actions if the United States valued the safety of Los Angeles, a comment widely considered to imply a Chinese missile attack on Los Angeles. There are, however, other, more discrete ways to introduce weapons of mass destruction into America’s cities.

Hutchison Whampoa dominates commercial shipping in Hong Kong, which will be absorbed by China on July 1. At that time, the fictitious line between Hutchison’s Chinese and Hong Kong identities, the latter having been used as cover for its moves in Panama, will vanish. The port of Balboa at the Pacific outlet of the Panama Canal thus will fall under the control of the Beijing regime, as will the port of San Cristobal near the canal’s Atlantic end. The 25-year leases were gained by the Chinese through secret negotiations that reek of corruption.

The Panama Canal continues to be a critical choke point for the movement of American forces and supplies Navy has shrunk the start of the decade to 350 ships today, the ability to shift units rapidly between oceans is Beijing certainly are aware of this as they consider American reactions to another crisis over Taiwan or anywhere else in Asia. The question is, why hasn’t the Clinton administration considered this?

In Long Beach, Clinton personally promoted a deal with China rather than help find American investors. In Panama, the White House claimed surprise that the Chinese beat out American rivals in the bid for control of the ports near the canal. Has U.S. intelligence deteriorated this much in an area the United States so long has considered vital to its security? Or does Clinton’s dedication to the policy of “engagement” with China require that the administration look the other way? The same mind-set that led the White House to ignore NSC and FBI warnings about foreign involvement in the 1996 election campaigns seems also to have blinded the president to other dangerous machinations by Beijing.

Duncan Hunter is a Republican congressman representing the 52nd District of California and chairman of the National Security subcommittee on Military Procurement.