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WILL BEIJING BE AUTHORIZED TO PROPAGANDIZE TAIWAN?

Mark Landler reports from Taipei, Taiwan (New York Times, 6/11/01, p. C1) that "With more than a dozen all-news channels on the television dial, the last thing this compact country would seem to need is another one. Yet if Taiwan gives final approval, Phoenix Satellite Television will begin broadcasting its Chinese-language news channel here as early as July.

"Phoenix would stand apart from its rivals in one crucial respect: it is a channel backed by the Chinese mainland – the first of its kind to be licensed on an island that was occupied by the Nationalist troops of Chiang Kai-shek after they were driven off the mainland by Mao Zedong and the Communists in 1949."

A JOINT VENTURE BY RUPERT MURDOCH AND PLA

"Phoenix, which is based in Hong Kong but controlled by interests from the Chinese mainland, is testing a proposition: that in an era of tighter economic ties between Taiwan and China, greater China is becoming a single media market. Phoenix is run by a former People’s Liberation Army soldier, Liu Chang Le, in a partnership with Rupert Murdoch’s Star TV. …

" ‘Six months ago, I would have said, "Not a chance," ’ said Arthur Shay, a lawyer in Taipei who represents media companies. ‘But with so many Taiwanese businessmen focused on China, Phoenix has a real opportunity.’ …"

COMMERCIALISM OVERRULES PATRIOTISM

"Thousands of Taiwanese are moving to China to oversee investments; they are curious about everything from politics to where they can go to meet members of the opposite sex. …

"Tom.com, a Hong Kong-based Web portal, recently acquired PC Home, a Taiwan magazine publisher that it plans to expand into China. Backed by the tycoon Li Ka-shing, the company says it has ‘the opportunity to create the biggest Chinese-language media company in greater China.’

"Next [a gossipy magazine published by Jimmy Lai] and Tom.com are from Hong Kong, a former British colony that has direct flights to Taipei. That makes them less alien to people here than a news channel backed by Beijing, which periodically threatens to invade Taiwan.

"For several years, China’s state-owned television network, China Central Television, or CCTV, has been available on Taiwan’s cable systems. But CCTV functions as a propaganda arm of the Communist Party, and it is watched by a small audience of mostly older viewers on the mainland. …

" ‘Part of Phoenix’s job is to disseminate China’s views abroad,’ said Andrew K. Collier, an analyst at Bear, Stearns in Hong Kong. ‘If they can do that in Taiwan, it will really help them with the Chinese leadership.’ "

Excerpted from Howard Phillips Issues & Strategy Bulletin of April 15, 2001

"VERY SORRY" FOR THE WRONG REASONS

Chris Ruddy writes (NewsMax.com, 4/11/01) concerning the U.S.-China spy plane conflict that "Any spin that plays this story differently simply will seek to delude Americans to the reality of what has transpired in the past 11 days.

"For almost two weeks China held Americans and America hostage. So far, there have been NO repercussions, and today they received an effective ‘apology’ from the U.S. government for having done nothing wrong.

"Ambassador Prueher’s letter today states: ‘We are very sorry the entering of China’s airspace and the landing did not have verbal clearance, but very pleased the crew landed safely.’

"The operative words ‘very sorry’ are nothing more than an apology. We are sorry that a Chinese jet collided with our propeller plane, causing it to almost crash, and forcing it to land in Chinese territory?"

NO APOLOGY BY BEIJING FOR ITS CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

"Even worse in my mind was Prueher’s statement that followed his ‘very sorry’ concession: ‘We appreciate China’s efforts to see to the well being of our crew.’ Do we usually thank hostage takers? ...

"Each day that passed after the first two days – the longest reasonable amount of time our military personnel should have been kept against their will – China demonstrated to neighboring Asian countries and the rest of the world that the U.S. is no longer a great superpower. ..."

SUPPORT FOR CONTINUATION OF MFN SHOWS WORLD THAT BUSH LOVES COMMERCE MORE THAN HE LOATHES COMMUNISM

"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. ...

"In truth, we should now be ‘very sorry’ for trading with China, opening up our universities to their students, opening our capital markets to their businesses, sharing our technology, and helping to make them a great power."

CHICOM FIGHTER WHICH ATTACKED U.S. RECONNAISSANCE FLIGHT WAS EQUIPPED WITH AVIONICS "MADE IN THE USA"

Jon Dougherty reports (WorldNetDaily.com, 4/11/01) that "American defense and aircraft firms won contracts in the late 1980s and 1990s to upgrade Chinese F-8II fighter jets of the type used to intercept an American EP-3E aircraft and force it to land at an airbase on China’s southern Hainan Island earlier this month.

"Northrup Grumman, a leading U.S. military aircraft maker, provided avionics upgrades for the F-8II – one of China’s first modern, indigenously-built fighters – under a ‘massive’ program that included guidance kits and weapons systems upgrades, as well."

GRUMMAN EXECS PUT THEIR FINANCIAL SECURITY BEFORE U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY

"In 1995, The New American magazine reported that following the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre of Chinese students by People’s Liberation Army troops, ‘Chinese military officers were allowed back into the U.S. to resume work with Grumman’s massive modernization of …China’s F-8II fighter planes.’

"Also, in October 1998, Al Santoli, editor of the American Foreign Policy Center’s China Reform Monitor and a national security adviser to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., wrote that China’s largest aerospace firm, the China Aero-Technology Import Export Company, ‘has been permitted to obtain avionics, guidance kits and weapons systems to upgrade the F-8 fighter-bomber, which was co-developed with U.S. aerospace manufacturers. …’ "

FOR $245 MILLION GRUMMAN SOLD ITS EXPERTISE TO CHICOM CRIMINALS

"And, the Federation of American Scientists, in an online analysis of the F-8 series aircraft, said, ‘Grumman signed a $245 million contract with China to substantially re-engineer the F-8 interceptor to the F-8II standard. …’ The FAS report also said that ‘several other Chinese aircraft incorporate Western systems, including the H-7 and Q-5 attack aircraft.’ …"

U.S. AIR BASE USED TO UPGRADE RED CHINA’S MILITARY DURING BUSH-CHENEY ONE

"According to Preservation of Aerospace Technology Projects, Inc., or PAT, a not-for-profit corporation providing research, technical and educational publications, the Chinese F-8II upgrade program was named ‘Peace Pearl,’ and was headed by one of the organization’s officials, retired Air Force Col. Will R. Stewart.

"Stewart was the test squadron commander for the program from April 1989 to April 1990. Information on PAT’s website said the program was held at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

"Stewart ‘directed test planning efforts of a major avionics upgrade to the People’s Republic of China’s F-8II interceptor aircraft,’ according to résumé information, and he was ‘responsible for [the] $13 million test budget.’ He oversaw ‘26 Air Force, 40 contractor and 40 Chinese workers on [the] largest foreign military sales program in existence with the Chinese.’ …"

McDONNELL-DOUGLAS AND BOEING ALSO HIRED OUT TO PEOPLE’S LIBERATION ARMY

"Kenneth R. Timmerman, writing for the American Spectator magazine in 1995, said, ‘One of China’s biggest and best suppliers of advanced U.S. technology is McDonnell Douglas, America’s largest defense contractor and maker [in addition to its line of MD-80 and MD-90 civilian airliners] of the F-15, F-18 and C-17 military jets.’ McDonnell Douglas is now a subsidiary of The Boeing Corporation."

RED CHINA DOESN’T NEED ESPIONAGE — U.S. DEFENSE CONTRACTORS GIVE THEM THE INFO THEY SEEK

" ‘According to U.S. government investigators probing a potential security breach, a team of Chinese procurement agents inspected the sprawling McDonnell Douglas C-17 plant in Columbus, Ohio, previously used by Rockwell to assemble the B-1 bomber, from September 11-19, 1993,’ Timmerman wrote.

" ‘The Chinese were allowed to photograph production lines inside the huge multi-story hangars and sought technical documentation on a wide variety of advanced production technology, much of it classified. The nine-day inspection by the Chinese was considered so sensitive that the company only allowed the inspectors in during the evenings and on the weekends, after the plant’s unionized workers had gone home,’ he said."

IS IT TREASON WHEN DISCLOSURES ARE AUTHORIZED BY U.S. GOVERNMENT?

" ‘Following their visit, the Chinese submitted an eight-page, single-spaced list of equipment they wanted to buy. It included 31 large, computerized machine-tools that the Joint Chiefs of Staff consider to be "militarily-critical" and that normally can only be exported to U.S. allies, if at all,’ he wrote.

" ‘The Commerce Department approved the licenses in August [1994], McDonnell Douglas confirmed. As promised by the Chinese, an agreement extending the MD-82 program was signed with CATIC [China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation] in November’ of that year, said Timmerman. …"

U.S. TECHNOLOGY PLACED IN CHICOM MISSILES

"Additionally, Timmerman said research indicated that U.S. specialty steel parts – used in aircraft and airframe manufacturing – sold to CATIC were ‘sent directly to a military aircraft plant in Xian, China.’ CATIC also bought and shipped U.S.-made global positioning satellite systems to China, leading U.S. defense analysts to conclude that Beijing was successfully integrating GPS into cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, ‘and a new generation of military jets – some of which are sent to Iran.’ "

CHICOMS PROUDLY BEAR THE RED BANNER BEFORE GROVELING U.S. BUSINESS PROSTITUTES

Gary Bauer points out that (Campaign for Working Families, 3/26/01): "On Friday, Chinese Vice Premier Quichen Qian spoke at a luncheon here in Washington sponsored by the U.S.-China Business Council. Afterwards [sic], he took questions, including one from an American student who wanted to know what the opinion was in China today of the deceased dictator Mao Tse-Tung. The Vice Premier heaped lavish praise on Mao and his leadership. Keep in mind that Mao is arguably the biggest mass murderer of all history, responsible for millions of deaths. His iron fist was ruthless and his opponents were shown no mercy. Along with Hitler and Stalin, Mao represents almost unimaginable evil. Yet, the current Vice Premier of China praised Mao while the audience of American ‘capitalists’ warmly applauded. The episode is a sorry reminder of the power of the ‘big lie’ and of the tendency of free people to forget truth."

Excerpted from Howard Phillips Issues & Strategy Bulletin of August 15, 2000

RED CHINA PURSUES GLOBAL GEOSTRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

"According to the South China Morning Post [NewsMax.com, 7/27/00], Dr. Arthur Waldron of the University of Pennsylvania warned the U.S. Congress, 'The [Communist] party's absolute rule can only be justified by invocation of external enemies -- to make plausible the postponing of any political reform.' Waldron said a year of military tension may lie ahead."

FROM MOSCOW TO THE MIDDLE EAST

"Waldron said that Beijing was trying to break up U.S. alliances while at the same time building up its own network, ranging from Russia to the Muslim nations of the Middle East."

CONTROL OF SPRATLEY ISLANDS IS A PRIORITY

"In Asia, he said, Beijing is working politically on South Korea. Were the long-sought incorporation of Taiwan into the People's Republic be accomplished, he added, it would strengthen China's 'dubious' claims to the Spratley Islands and South China Sea and pull Singapore into its 'tilt.'"

U.S. OUT OF KIRIBATI, RED CHINA IN

"As Australia and the United States lessen their influence over island nations in the South Pacific, China and Taiwan are aggressively competing to fill the economic and political gaps created, according to the Australian Financial Review. ...

"For example, after American disengagement, China endorsed the application of Kiribati for United Nations membership and then built a major satellite and missile-tracking station there, on Tarawa, some 500 miles south of the main U.S. missile-defense target range on Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands. During World War II, Tarawa was the site of one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific. Thousands of U.S. Marines died on its beaches to free it from Japanese occupation."

MANIFESTING MISSILE MUSCLE IN PAKISTAN

"The New York Times reports that U.S. intelligence agencies have discovered that China is continuing to help Pakistan to build long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. In addition, Chinese experts have been seen moving around Pakistan's newest missile factory, which appears to be partly based on Chinese design."

SHOWING THE FLAG IN SOUTH AFRICA

"In a demonstration of China's growing naval power, a fleet of warships led by the new Shen Zhen missile destroyer has embarked on a three-ocean operation with port calls planned in Malaysia, Tanzania and South Africa, according to the Beijing Zhongguo Xionwen She official news service. ..."

BEIJING AIDS CUBA AND LIBYA

"In a Beijing meeting, Xinhua also reports, PLA Chief of Staff Gen. Fu Quanyou praised Ulises Rosales Del Toro Fu, a member of Cuba's Central Military Commission, for the expanding relations between the Chinese and Cuban armed forces. World Tribune.com reports that U.S. officials say China is selling missile technology to Libya. Clinton administration officials said Secretary of Defense William Cohen was raising the issue during his recent meetings in Beijing."

Excerpted from Howard Phillips Issues & Strategy Bulletin of February 29, 2000

CHINA INTENSIFIES ITS MILITARY ALLIANCE WITH RUSSIA

According to Craig Smith (New York Times, 2/9/00, p. 1), "China's first Russian-built guided-missile destroyer is expected to arrive in the East China Sea as early as this week, enhancing Beijing's ability to threaten American aircraft carriers in any future encounters over Taiwan.

"Within weeks of the Sovremenny-class destroyer's arrival, Russia is expected to deliver the ship's most formidable weapon, Sunburn anti-ship missiles specifically designed to penetrate American carrier battle group defenses. The Russian version of the sea-skimming supersonic missile can carry nuclear or conventional warheads."

ARMS CONTROL RESTRICTIONS ON NUCLEAR WARHEADS ARE EASILY CIRCUMVENTED

"Conventions to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, as well as Russia's own strategic interests, make it unlikely that the missiles will be delivered with nuclear warheads. But Russia could provide, or China could develop, technology that would enable the missiles to deliver a Chinese nuclear warhead. ... Even with conventional warheads, China's new missile-armed destroyers, together with four recently purchased Kilo-class submarines from Russia, will raise the threshold for any future American intervention in the region, military analysts say. ...

"China has built its own guided-missile destroyers, but they are considered less threatening than the Sunburn-equipped destroyers from Russia. China purchased two of the Russian ships last year -- the second is expected later this year -- and is believed to be negotiating the purchase of at least two more."

WILL CONGRESS COMPLETE THE SALE OF DESTROYERS TO TAIWAN?

"'This is a generational leap for China into a much more advanced type of surface weaponry,' said James Lilley, a former American ambassador to China and now a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in Washington. ...

"Lt. Cdr. Terry Southerland said this week...there has been no decision on Taiwan's request to buy American Aegis destroyers to counter the Chinese purchases. ..."

REAGAN'S 1982 PRO-RED CHINA COMMUNIQUÉ PLACED LIMITS ON U.S. HELP TO TAIWAN

"Under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, the United States is obligated to help Taiwan defend itself from a mainland attack -- although in a 1982 joint communiqué with Beijing, Washington pledged not to increase the quantity or quality of arms sold to Taiwan. ..."

RUSSIA AND ISRAEL PROVIDE ADVANCED AVIONICS TO BEIJING

"The United States Navy currently has limited defense against the missile, which Russia designed in the 1980's to sink Arleigh Burke-class Aegis destroyers guarding American carrier groups or to hit the carriers themselves. The radar-guided missiles can deliver a 200-kiloton nuclear warhead to a target beyond the horizon in about two minutes. Even one of its conventional warheads could sink a cruiser or disable a carrier, depending on where it hits, military analysts say. ... With the United States and much of Europe refusing to supply China with advanced weapons, Russia and Israel have been the country's primary options. Israel has helped China with the avionics for a fighter aircraft it is developing. But Russia, with a sophisticated arsenal and weakened economy, has been a more willing supplier.

"Russia has sold China four quiet Kilo-class submarines, which carry 'wake-homing' torpedoes designed to detonate beneath a ship's keel. The torpedoes are difficult to detect because they approach the ship from the rear where their sound is masked by the noise of the ship's propellers. And Russia is helping China assemble Russian Sukhoi SU-27 fighters. ...

"[O]ther American analysts see a sinister logic to the procurement program, suggesting that the weapons purchases meet specific tactical needs within broader strategic goals -- the ability to challenge American dominance in the Taiwan Strait, for example, or to protect its claims in the resource-rich South China Sea. Some warn further that the incremental arms buildup represents the early stages of a broader armament intended to prepare China for potential conflict with the United States...."

Excerpted from Howard Phillips Issues & Strategy Bulletin of January 15, 2000

DEFENSE DEPARTMENT ACKNOWLEDGES RED CHINESE THREAT AT PANAMANIAN ISTHMUS

Bill Gertz reports (Washington Times, 1/12/2000, pp. A1, 16) that "A Pentagon intelligence report calls Chinese influence over the Panama Canal a potential threat to U.S. national security. ..."

U.S. TECHNOLOGY CAN BE SMUGGLED TO RED CHINA IN SEALED CONTAINERS

"'Hutchison [Whampoa Ltd.'s] 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,' according to a declassified report by the U.S. Southern Command's Joint Intelligence Center. ..."

... AND COMMUNIST WEAPONS CAN BE SMUGGLED IN

"However, the Pentagon intelligence report states that the economic power conferred through the Hutchison Whampoa ports at either end of the Panama Canal and in the Bahamas would give China leverage over Panama, which has diplomatic relations with rival Taiwan.

"'For example, Hutchison Whampoa could threaten to shift some business from Panama to its Free Trade Zone in the Bahamas, thus giving the company additional leverage over the Panamanian government,' the report said. ..."

... JUDICIAL WATCH FORCES RELEASE OF INFO

"The Washington public interest group Judicial Watch made the report public after it was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. ..."

U.S. PACIFIC OPERATIONS ENDANGERED BY LOSS OF CANAL

"Long-term military operations to resupply U.S. forces in the Pacific in such a conflict make the access to the canal 'crucial' to military planning, one Pentagon official said."

CHICOMS ARE PLANNING FOR WAR WITH USA

"Last week, Hong Kong's Cheng Ming newspaper quoted Chinese Defense Minister Chi Haotian as saying war with the United States is inevitable.

"'Seen from the changes in the world situation and the United States' hegemonic strategy for creating monopolarity, war is inevitable,' Mr. Chi told a military conference in early December.

"'We cannot avoid it,' he was quoted in the newspaper as saying. 'The issue is that the Chinese armed forces must control the initiative in this war....We must be prepared to fight for one year, two years, three years or even longer.' ..."

HUTCHISON WHAMPOA STRENGTHENS RED CHINESE PRESENCE IN WESTERN HEMISPHERE

"Hutchison'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 report said. ...

"Marine Corps Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm, the commander in chief of the U.S. Southern Command...told the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing he believes China does use businesses for military purposes. ...

"Gen. Wilhelm...stated that China's goals in Panama are 'less a local threat to the canal and more a regional threat posed by expanding Chinese influence throughout Latin America.'

"Other experts see increased Chinese commercial activities in this hemisphere as providing Beijing with a potential base for anti-U.S. subversion during a future conflict with the United States."

BUSH ADVISER BELIEVES RED REGIME IN CHINA CAN BE PERSUADED TO SUBSTITUTE "DEMOCRACY" FOR MAOIST IMPERIALISM

One of George Bush's top foreign policy advisors, Paul Wolfowitz (touted as Bush's top choice for Secretary of Defense), currently a professor of international relations at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, asserts (Commentary, January 2000, p. 46) that "In the case of China, our limited influence on that country is more likely to be effective if we take the milder course that President Reagan followed in dealing with authoritarian regimes like the Philippines and South Korea than the approach he took toward our ideological rival in the cold war, the Soviet Union."

IS RED CHINA MORE LIKE THE PHILIPPINES UNDER MARCOS THAN THE SOVIET UNION UNDER ANDROPOV?

This is an extraordinarily unsound perspective.

South Korea and the Philippines have, throughout recent decades, been friends of the United States of America, whereas Communist China has declared us to be its main enemy. The issue is only partially related to Red China's authoritarianism. The key question for U.S. decisionmakers must be: Does our policy help Communist China pose a greater or lesser threat to U.S. vital interests?

Free market totalitarianism is not the answer. Wolfowitz is wrong in presupposing that Communist China is not an ideological rival.

Mr. Wolfowitz's thinking gives us a pretty good clue of the theoretical rationale for the pro-Red China policy now being contemplated by the prospective Bush administration. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

Excerpted from Howard Phillips Issues & Strategy Bulletin of December 31, 1999

CHINESE REDS CONVERT MERCHANT SHIPPING TO MILITARY PURPOSES

"Based on reliable sources, with the coordination of the Ministry of Communications, the Chinese Navy is stepping up efforts to refit a great number of merchant ships in reserve to make up for the shortage of naval landing vessels. In principle, the refitting effort is aimed at 'using these ships both in peace time and war time.' ...

"Container ships can be equipped with container-type guided missile vertical launching systems or area air defense guided missiles, which have a ground fire control capability and can provide long-range air defense support for naval forces."

CONTAINER SHIPS CAN TRANSPORT TANKS AND MISSILES

"This military officer said that China is a major shipping country in the world having large shipping tonnage. The ship models include all kinds of container ships, freighters, passenger ships, and barges with a strong carrying capacity, high speed, and rapid loading and unloading capacity. ...

"The 'Haifeng' container ships of the China Ocean Shipping Company have large stern elevators that can help tanks for both sea and ground operations and armored vehicles launch attacks or land on beachheads. The large roll-on ships can rapidly load and unload all kinds of light vehicles and materials at the floating wharves quickly built by engineering troops. ...

"Some merchant ships with medium or higher displacements may also be equipped with large-caliber and multiple-tube rocket launchers, medium-sized and small caliber anti-aircraft guns, and heavy anti-tank missiles and shoulder-fired air defense guided missiles. ..."

ANTI-AIRCRAFT, ANTI-TANK, MINE LAYING, AND MISSILE LAUNCH CAPABILITIES FACILITATED

"[I]n blockade warfare and information warfare, guided by the military, merchant ships can carry out the missions of laying mines, launching missile attacks, installing electronic deception equipment, and data link systems. In addition, they can be used as launching and retrieving platforms or control stations for unmanned aerodynamic vehicles (UAVs)." Source: "PLA Refits Merchant Ships in Reserve", staff reporter, Hong Kong Ming Pao in Chinese, 11/2/99, p. b14)