China's Ring of Crime

In early 2000, six individuals, including a Chinese general, were indicted by a U.S. grand jury, convened in Detroit, for running an illegal smuggling operation. The indictment of Chinese Gen. Zhang (pronounced Fhang) Wei included as evidence videotape taken by a Canadian undercover operative who managed to penetrate the smuggling ring. (See: Inside the Dragon's Den.)

Despite overwhelming evidence that the Chinese army was involved in the illegal smuggling operations, the Clinton administration quickly shut down the investigation and discouraged any release of information on the story.

The tight lid on the investigation by the Clinton administration had serious results.

Ironically, after being indicted in the United States, Chinese Gen. Zhang may have met with Canadian officials, including Immigration Minister Elanor Kaplan, during a briefing in Fujian on how to combat illegal people-smuggling. The briefing included plans for Canadian security and law enforcement operations to combat smuggling.

According to the former executive director of the Canadian Police Association, Scott Newark, this event illustrates the poor communication between U.S. and Canadian security officials.

"I'm not sure which is worse, having communications so poor between our security people and their American counterparts that we didn't know this guy was indicted or that we knew but just didn't care or were too sloppy to ask if the head people smuggler was in the room when our minister gave the confidential details of our efforts to stop Chinese people-smuggling. Either way, Canada needs to take this issue, and its responsibilities, a whole lot more seriously," stated Newark.

The evidence that the Chinese government is directly involved in illegal operations inside America is still being uncovered. In the late 1990s, the U.S. government conducted a secret investigation into Chinese intelligence operations inside the United States. The investigation, code-named "Dragon Lord," remains classified and no reports have been released to the public.

Canada, however, conducted a similar operation code-named "Sidewinder." A recently declassified Canadian secret report shows exactly how the Chinese intelligence services penetrated the Americas as part of an overall plan to win an unconventional war.

"Some wealthy Hong Kong Chinese investors and Chinese from [the] Mainland closely affiliated or related with the country's leadership and the ChIS [Chinese Intelligence Service) took advantage of the 'entrepreneur' and 'investor' categories to emigrate to and invest in Canada. Few even bought or established companies on Canadian soil through a family member who had obtained Canadian citizenship," states the secret report.

"Intelligence indicates that these specific individuals with these three groups: triads, Hong Kong investors and people close to China's leadership, have been identified working in concert with the Chinese government to gain influence through some of their 'financial ventures' in Canada. Some companies are also used to conceal criminal or intelligence activities. At the same time, the Chinese Intelligence Services use their access to Canadian businesses through exchanges and technical or student visits to steal classified and technological information. They have gone so far as to set up shell companies to pursue their economic and technological information acquisition operations.

"Being Canadian, these businesses are also eligible to receive government subsidies for research or classified contracts from Federal Departments. The risk is that after the research is done, the results can be transferred to China," noted the secret report.

"Another form of risk is with the access gained through classified contracts. As an example, a Canadian company under Chinese influence was in contention for a contract to set up and run a classified communication system linking the main agencies of the Canadian intelligence community. A company in Toronto specializing in video surveillance was originally Canadian but was bought by a Chinese multinational. "It is impossible to say how many or which Canadian companies are in the same situation. These examples, however, raise questions about the integrity of some companies that have already installed systems for various Canadian government institutions or Canadian research industries," states the report.

According to the secret report, a key figure in the Chinese operation to penetrate the Americas is Li Ka-Shing.

"Significant portions of some large Canadian urban centers are also owned by Chinese entrepreneurs. For example, it is estimated that Li Ka-Shing owned with his son at least one third of downtown Vancouver," states the report.

In October 1999, the Clinton White House denied that Chinese billionaire Li Ka-Shing is working for the communists in Beijing. The White House press secretary labeled such accusations as "silly" and "this is the kind of thing you see around here from time to time."

In August 1994, the Clinton White House did not think Li Ka-Shing's connection to the Red Chinese leadership was silly. President Clinton thought so highly of Li Ka-Shing that he included the communist financier with the Red leaders of Beijing in a package of intelligence information supplied to DNC million-dollar donor Bernard Schwartz, CEO of Loral.

Li Ka-shing's relationship with the leadership in Beijing has also appeared in numerous other official documents. According to a 1996 document from the U.S. Embassy in Panama, China Resources put a $400 million investment into Li Ka-Shing's company as part of a "front" company controlled by Beijing.

"Embassy Panama has received information to the effect that HIT [Hutchison International Terminals] is controlled by mainland Chinese perhaps through a Macao front which allegedly recently invested $400 million in HIT," states the cable. "Such control would have security implications and might affect the Panamanian government's views on awarding the port concessions."

Commerce documents describe China Resources Enterprises as "the investment arm of China's Foreign Trade ministry." However, China Resources Enterprises also passed illegal campaign donations to the Clinton-Gore 1996 re-election. Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., described China Resources Enterprises as "an agent of espionage – economic, military, and political – for China" during the 1997 Senate Governmental Affairs Committee hearings.

A 1995 cable from the American Embassy in Nassau noted that Li Ka-Shing had signed an agreement to build an $88 million container ship terminal in the Grand Bahamas. The U.S. Embassy in Nassau copied the cable to several law enforcement agencies including the U.S. Customs Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency.

"Reftel describes U.S. agencies' security concerns about possible smuggling attempts through the terminal," states the cable from the American Embassy. "Post will request via septel assistance in addressing these concerns while port development plans are still on the drawing board."

Documents discovered by Judicial Watch, a Washington-based watchdog group, noted that the U.S. Defense Department focused carefully on Li Ka-Shing and his company Hutchison Whampoa. According to an October 1999 "Intelligence Assessment" prepared by the U.S. military Southern Command, the Hong Kong billionaire is a potential threat to America.

"Hutchison'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," concluded the U.S. military intelligence report.

Even more ominous is the similarity between the current operation inside Canada, as noted by the "Sidewinder" report, and the U.S. 1996 presidential elections.

"These 'corporate' figures have become an influential presence on the political and economic landscape of Toronto and Vancouver and at the provincial and federal levels.

"The triads, the tycoons and the Chinese intelligence services have learned that a quick way to gain influence is to provide finance to the main political parties. Most of the companies identified in this research have contributed, sometimes several tens of thousands of dollars, to the two traditional political parties."

The "Sidewinder" report has already raised a storm of questions inside the Canadian government. One member of Parliament acknowledged that "Sidewinder" illustrated the growing threat poised by the combination of triad, wealthy ex-Chinese tycoons and the PLA intelligence services.

"There is a lack of security in Canada, particularly in our ports and coastal cities," stated Canadian Member of Parliament (MP) Darrel Stinson.

"We still have a government that does not recognize the threat even after 9-11. I tried to make the 'Sidewinder' documents public but the present Liberal government resisted it. The RCMP officer that finally released the report was charged with violating our national security laws. We have a government that will not do anything to stop this at all," noted Stinson.

"There is a big problem with human smuggling in British Columbia. If we can't control our borders after 9-11, then the United States will do if for us," concluded Stinson.

Who needs intercontinental ballistic missiles? Just occupy facilities at the ports of Bahama, Panama, Venezuela, Vancouver. Did I miss any potential ports that bear initial inspection by US Military Forces to cleanse this hemisphere from missile mischief from next door neighbors. No missile shield will stop an attack from next door.

IMO

Thanks for the info. I hope the US government is a little more up to date, as some of the quotes from government employees are quite old.

For example. At the container port they found that a few of the containers suddenly went missing. They were found a few days later at differnt places on the Island. Empty........ The story died ? What was in the containers ? No one knows?!

They will open a casino in November 2002 and get Wyndham to manage it.

Land slide victory for the opposition party in the election, that was supposedly backed by Hutchison.

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